Social interactions among paedophiles
Abstract
The
purpose of this study is to explore the range and
nature of social interactions among individuals who experience a
sustained and compelling attraction towards young adolescents or
prepubescent children of either sex. Such an attraction, of
course, is
prohibited and the target of extensive social controls, legal
sanctions
and therapeutic efforts. Given the widespread hostility they
elicit,
paedophiles are generally viewed not only as social outcasts but
also as
social isolates. This may explain the lack of research on the
social
networks of paedophiles .
Nonetheless,
a non-trivial proportion of criminal
prosecutions involve multiple co-defendants; a number of
advocacy groups
publicly challenge age of consent laws exist and provide
favourable
definitions of paedophilia; finally social learning theory
typically
emphasizes the influence of peer groups in maintaining high
recidivism
rates and the development of deviant careers. My substantive
goal, here,
is to analyze the variety of conditions that allow paedophiles
to
overcome their social isolation, seek each other out and become,
as a
result, embedded in a deviant quasi-community or social
movement.
Data and method
The main
data set, in this study, relies on the taped
conversations I obtained from 19 subjects. About half (N=11)
were
currently serving their sentence in a Canadian federal prison
(the
"prison sample"). Another group of subjects (N=4), interviewed
in my university office or at their place, were currently
participating
in a community relapse-prevention self-help group - L'Amorce -
("the institutional community sample").
Access
and referral were provided by the psychological
staff managing this program (sponsored and funded by the
provincial
government). In both cases, I had asked staff to refer me to
individuals
known to have had some past interactions with other paedophiles,
and
willing to talk about it to a university professor conducting an
independent investigation on the topic.
The other
participants interviewed were located by
independent means (the "street sample"): two were located by
way of an advertisement placed in an upbeat nightlife Montreal
weekly
("Voir"); another was a personal acquaintance I had known as
an undergraduate philosophy student; the last subject was a
committed
libertarian and writer that had publicly acknowledged his
"right" to seek out sexual intimacy with young adolescents.
[...
P]articipants in this study can be viewed as repeat
offenders.
Conclusion
Variations in the known incidence and characteristics of
age of consent offences are not appropriately measured unless
one
analyzes separately the incidence of paedophile and hebephile
offences
and seeks to understand the differential dynamics of juvenile
male and
female involvement in both types of offences. This exploratory
research
suggests, for example, that the degree of organization or
density of
interactions among offenders engaged in similar violation
increase as a
function of the age of the juveniles and their sex - hebephiles
seeking
male adolescents being the most socially organized domain of age
of
consent offences.
Documenting
the significance of age of consent offences
by scanning world-wide media reports on law-enforcement
investigation
agencies (a customary research procedure, e.g., Huges, 1999)
does not
necessarily provide useful insights for understanding variations
in
rates of age of consent offences because of the media’s emphasis
on
"worst cases".
Although a
number of burglars rape their victims, it is
doubtful that documenting patterns in burglary-rape cases would
provide
insights in accounting for variations in burglary rates. None of
the
subjects interviewed in this research (drawn mostly from a
population of
already serious repeat offenders) would qualify as violent
offenders or
as "worst cases". Yet they are probably quite representative
of most individuals currently arrested and convicted by law
enforcement
for age of consent violations.
A
distinctive argument in this paper is that
non-instrumental or symbolic interactions among offenders are
more
important for certain kinds of offences (age of consent
violations in
particular) than for other offences (e.g., property crimes).
This is
so because commitment to violate basic social
norms requires that potential offenders acquire through personal
contacts "favourable definitions" of their own behaviour.
Internet
technology currently provides the organized
means for social isolates to overcome natural, legal and social
barriers. Because law enforcement agencies pursue practical
goals
(arresting individuals) web sites have mainly been understood as
providing new instrumental opportunities for paedophiles or
hebephiles
to reach juveniles and commit (or attempt to commit) offences.
However,
the most significant and long-term implication
of this new mass medium of communication is that it allows
individual
paedophiles to participate in the development of an authentic
subculture
and "community" and to perceive themselves belonging to
"a social movement". The obvious implication is that a stable
forum for in-group intimate, albeit virtual, contacts between
individuals normally trapped by an unshareable secret will have
lasting
effects on their commitment and ultimately on the incidence of
age of
consent offences.
Research
on age of consent offences is mainly undertaken
by psychologists and criminologists pursuing the practical
concern of
treating individuals, assessing their personal characteristics
("personality traits") and evaluating the impact of various
options of "treatments".
Sociological
research on aggregate patterns of age of
consent violations over time and across countries and cities has
not
been viewed as policy-relevant. The perceived social
encapsulation of
many "sex offenders" has also discouraged research on
paedophile and hebephile social networks (for exceptions, see
Hanson and
Scott, 1986).
Current
opportunities for both instrumental and symbolic
interactions among age of consent offenders may change this
current
focus. One implication of this investigation is that that
perhaps more
resources should be channelled to community relapse prevention
programs.
Another implication is that relapse prevention support groups
should
consider the possibility of taking advantage of existing
Internet
opportunities to expand their influence.
In this
paper, I have avoided discussing the empirical
or intellectual merits of "favourable" or "unfavourable"
definitions (arguments) of sexual interactions between juveniles
and
adults and concentrated instead on analyzing behavioural
interactions.
Moreover,
I have refrained from participating in Web
discussions and chat forums and did not undertake an analysis of
relevant paedophilia sites. Nonetheless a sociological
investigation of
the current web-driven paedophilia subculture should increase
our
understanding of paedophiles and could provide a useful strategy
for
overcoming the inherent self-selection sampling biases shaping
conventional clinical and correctional research. It could assess
the
extent to which this socialization process (individual deviants
becoming
embedded in a collective set of exchanges) affects not only
their
motivation to act out but also their ways of acting out and even
their
motivation to cease or reduce the frequency and the seriousness
of their
violations.
To the
extent that age of consent offenders interact
among themselves, they may learn from each other new "tricks"
or discover new "opportunities" (an "enhancing
effect"). But, at the same time, they may also define for
themselves a new set of norms about the "appropriate" rules of
courtship and about the appropriate settings for engaging in
erotic
interaction with juveniles ("a structuring effect").
Moreover,
individuals engaging in age of consent
offences may also realise that they are pursuing an altogether
"impossible dream". As they persevere, they are likely to be
disappointed by the juveniles that they have interacted with
(the
theme of "betrayal" and the associated
theme of the "unreliability" of juveniles were recurrent
topics in our interviews).
They may
also be disappointed by the callousness or
insensitivity of other paedophiles they happen to exchange with
(another
recurrent theme).
As they
attempt to actualize their attraction, the
personal costs they impose on themselves and on their personal
entourage
(including the juveniles themselves), may trigger a
self-reflection
process that will commit them into abstinence. I have learned
that much
through my conversations with one of the subjects of this study
(MC) who
channelled his entrepreneurial and charismatic qualities in the
creation
of a relapse-prevention support group for individuals attracted
to
juveniles. Although co-ordinated by two devoted psychologists
(who
believed that "therapy" is basically a process of uncensored
self-reflection), the impact of gifted individuals such as MC
should
also be analyzed more closely.
http://digg.com/u1NvYS
Abstract
The
purpose of this study is to explore the range and
nature of social interactions among individuals who experience a
sustained and compelling attraction towards young adolescents or
prepubescent children of either sex. Such an attraction, of
course, is
prohibited and the target of extensive social controls, legal
sanctions
and therapeutic efforts. Given the widespread hostility they
elicit,
paedophiles are generally viewed not only as social outcasts but
also as
social isolates. This may explain the lack of research on the
social
networks of paedophiles .
Nonetheless,
a non-trivial proportion of criminal
prosecutions involve multiple co-defendants; a number of
advocacy groups
publicly challenge age of consent laws exist and provide
favourable
definitions of paedophilia; finally social learning theory
typically
emphasizes the influence of peer groups in maintaining high
recidivism
rates and the development of deviant careers. My substantive
goal, here,
is to analyze the variety of conditions that allow paedophiles
to
overcome their social isolation, seek each other out and become,
as a
result, embedded in a deviant quasi-community or social
movement.
Data and method
The main
data set, in this study, relies on the taped
conversations I obtained from 19 subjects. About half (N=11)
were
currently serving their sentence in a Canadian federal prison
(the
"prison sample"). Another group of subjects (N=4), interviewed
in my university office or at their place, were currently
participating
in a community relapse-prevention self-help group - L'Amorce -
("the institutional community sample").
Access
and referral were provided by the psychological
staff managing this program (sponsored and funded by the
provincial
government). In both cases, I had asked staff to refer me to
individuals
known to have had some past interactions with other paedophiles,
and
willing to talk about it to a university professor conducting an
independent investigation on the topic.
The other
participants interviewed were located by
independent means (the "street sample"): two were located by
way of an advertisement placed in an upbeat nightlife Montreal
weekly
("Voir"); another was a personal acquaintance I had known as
an undergraduate philosophy student; the last subject was a
committed
libertarian and writer that had publicly acknowledged his
"right" to seek out sexual intimacy with young adolescents.
[...
P]articipants in this study can be viewed as repeat
offenders.
Conclusion
Variations in the known incidence and characteristics of
age of consent offences are not appropriately measured unless
one
analyzes separately the incidence of paedophile and hebephile
offences
and seeks to understand the differential dynamics of juvenile
male and
female involvement in both types of offences. This exploratory
research
suggests, for example, that the degree of organization or
density of
interactions among offenders engaged in similar violation
increase as a
function of the age of the juveniles and their sex - hebephiles
seeking
male adolescents being the most socially organized domain of age
of
consent offences.
Documenting
the significance of age of consent offences
by scanning world-wide media reports on law-enforcement
investigation
agencies (a customary research procedure, e.g., Huges, 1999)
does not
necessarily provide useful insights for understanding variations
in
rates of age of consent offences because of the media’s emphasis
on
"worst cases".
Although a
number of burglars rape their victims, it is
doubtful that documenting patterns in burglary-rape cases would
provide
insights in accounting for variations in burglary rates. None of
the
subjects interviewed in this research (drawn mostly from a
population of
already serious repeat offenders) would qualify as violent
offenders or
as "worst cases". Yet they are probably quite representative
of most individuals currently arrested and convicted by law
enforcement
for age of consent violations.
A
distinctive argument in this paper is that
non-instrumental or symbolic interactions among offenders are
more
important for certain kinds of offences (age of consent
violations in
particular) than for other offences (e.g., property crimes).
This is
so because commitment to violate basic social
norms requires that potential offenders acquire through personal
contacts "favourable definitions" of their own behaviour.
Internet
technology currently provides the organized
means for social isolates to overcome natural, legal and social
barriers. Because law enforcement agencies pursue practical
goals
(arresting individuals) web sites have mainly been understood as
providing new instrumental opportunities for paedophiles or
hebephiles
to reach juveniles and commit (or attempt to commit) offences.
However,
the most significant and long-term implication
of this new mass medium of communication is that it allows
individual
paedophiles to participate in the development of an authentic
subculture
and "community" and to perceive themselves belonging to
"a social movement". The obvious implication is that a stable
forum for in-group intimate, albeit virtual, contacts between
individuals normally trapped by an unshareable secret will have
lasting
effects on their commitment and ultimately on the incidence of
age of
consent offences.
Research
on age of consent offences is mainly undertaken
by psychologists and criminologists pursuing the practical
concern of
treating individuals, assessing their personal characteristics
("personality traits") and evaluating the impact of various
options of "treatments".
Sociological
research on aggregate patterns of age of
consent violations over time and across countries and cities has
not
been viewed as policy-relevant. The perceived social
encapsulation of
many "sex offenders" has also discouraged research on
paedophile and hebephile social networks (for exceptions, see
Hanson and
Scott, 1986).
Current
opportunities for both instrumental and symbolic
interactions among age of consent offenders may change this
current
focus. One implication of this investigation is that that
perhaps more
resources should be channelled to community relapse prevention
programs.
Another implication is that relapse prevention support groups
should
consider the possibility of taking advantage of existing
Internet
opportunities to expand their influence.
In this
paper, I have avoided discussing the empirical
or intellectual merits of "favourable" or "unfavourable"
definitions (arguments) of sexual interactions between juveniles
and
adults and concentrated instead on analyzing behavioural
interactions.
Moreover,
I have refrained from participating in Web
discussions and chat forums and did not undertake an analysis of
relevant paedophilia sites. Nonetheless a sociological
investigation of
the current web-driven paedophilia subculture should increase
our
understanding of paedophiles and could provide a useful strategy
for
overcoming the inherent self-selection sampling biases shaping
conventional clinical and correctional research. It could assess
the
extent to which this socialization process (individual deviants
becoming
embedded in a collective set of exchanges) affects not only
their
motivation to act out but also their ways of acting out and even
their
motivation to cease or reduce the frequency and the seriousness
of their
violations.
To the
extent that age of consent offenders interact
among themselves, they may learn from each other new "tricks"
or discover new "opportunities" (an "enhancing
effect"). But, at the same time, they may also define for
themselves a new set of norms about the "appropriate" rules of
courtship and about the appropriate settings for engaging in
erotic
interaction with juveniles ("a structuring effect").
Moreover,
individuals engaging in age of consent
offences may also realise that they are pursuing an altogether
"impossible dream". As they persevere, they are likely to be
disappointed by the juveniles that they have interacted with
(the
theme of "betrayal" and the associated
theme of the "unreliability" of juveniles were recurrent
topics in our interviews).
They may
also be disappointed by the callousness or
insensitivity of other paedophiles they happen to exchange with
(another
recurrent theme).
As they
attempt to actualize their attraction, the
personal costs they impose on themselves and on their personal
entourage
(including the juveniles themselves), may trigger a
self-reflection
process that will commit them into abstinence. I have learned
that much
through my conversations with one of the subjects of this study
(MC) who
channelled his entrepreneurial and charismatic qualities in the
creation
of a relapse-prevention support group for individuals attracted
to
juveniles. Although co-ordinated by two devoted psychologists
(who
believed that "therapy" is basically a process of uncensored
self-reflection), the impact of gifted individuals such as MC
should
also be analyzed more closely.
