>We incarcerate way too many people, and
>from what I gather pedophilia is an obsession not
>really susceptible to deterrence. Also I gather it is
>highly resistant to treatment.
And the treatments we use become strange obsessions themselves. Slyvere Lotringer wrote about this in a book, based on extensive interviews with participants, called "Overexposed: Treating Sexual Perversion in America" It's coming out soon in a revised edition with a new title "Overexposed: Perverting Perversions". It's a fascinating and spooky read.
>And sexual abuse of younger children leaves lasting traumatic scars. So I
>don't know what I'd propose if I could write a law --
>what do people think?
Mandatory sex education in schools with a component about sexual abuse? The best way to keep a child from being victimized is for the kid to feel confident in setting their *own* boundaries and feeling confident that they will be believed if they tell a trusted adult that those boundaries have been crossed. The worst way to keep a child from being abused is what we do now, which is to create a sense of false security with things like websites that show sex offenders living in your neighborhood.
The problem is we don't know how to *talk* about this issue at all. And it's distressing to see Dems choosing Foley's "sex crimes" as something to get tough about.