I remember one guy going to prison for 27 years on multiple bad check charges. But it's like an entirely different thing to try and get a child molester confined for more than a couple years. Many people minimize the severity of child pornography charges. As wrong as they are, what I really can't understand is how someone can sexually molest a child and that be seen as less severe than an armed robbery. Somehow I think the courts look upon it differently when the perpetrator is related or at least known to the victim.
I did a research project on the topic of recidivism among sex offenders. It's around 90%, that we catch! That means that is must be approaching 100% who actually commit the acts. As much as I firmly believe this to be a mental illness, we must protect our children from these people. The only way I see to do it is by confining them permanently.
As wrong as they are, what I really can't understand is how someone can sexually molest a child and that be seen as less severe than an armed robbery.
[emphasis added]
Well, that's the key public perception. Once society understands the harm that pedophilia does to a child's psyche, it will develop an ethos where pedophilia is seen as on a level with deadly assault or even murder.
We are only as of the last several years learning how devastating sex acts performed on a child are and that these effects can (and probably do) last a life-time *and* that the victims often grow into pedophiles or promiscuous adults. Truly, a self-replicating horror. Once society understands this, then legislation will be enacted -and enforced- that will reflect the severity of this crime.
But… What *is* an appropriate punishment? Do we want to build ever more prisons to house these pervs for life? Chemical/physical castration? What about prevention and intervention programs? This is a tough problem that appears to be escalating out of control.
(I am now coming down from my soap-box.)