Minor Attracted What the Fucks

NOTE:   I want to make it clear - this rant was sparked off by a video by the ever beautiful MsBlaireWhite (go subscribe to her Youtube channel, seriously).    It was then fanned into a fully fledged rant when I took a few hours to follow up on researching her statements.

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“Minor Attracted Persons”.   “MAPs”.   “MAP identified persons”.  “We’re more comfortable with the term MAP.”   “You’re mis-identifying me when you don’t call me a MAP.”  

This is a real thing.   That terrifies me, as a parent and a law enforcement officer.    Do the research.   Do your homework.   If you have the knowledge or capability, take a (brief) dive into the underside of the web (the ‘darkweb’, the ‘trollnet’, ‘tor portals’, and on and on…fucking media) and look it up.

The WaPo and Huff (Washington Post and Huffington Post, for the non-political-internet savvy) have both done articles highlighting papers which rely on shaky research and tiny data pools to argue that pedophilia is a biological and understandable urge.   Not, you know, a harmful psychological condition which causes inherent distress to most of those suffering from it and potential danger to the public.   (As defined by the damned DSM IV updated, the last DSM before the DSM-V started taking SJW political concerns into account for their definitions.)

We’re supposed to be “understanding”.   We’re supposed to be “caring”, and provide alternative forms of “therapeutic support” instead of punishment, ostracizing and shaming.

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I work in corrections and community safety.   No, I’m not a correctional officer.   No, I’m not a municipal police officer.   I work for the state government, I wear a badge, I investigate crimes, I testify in court and I do criminal surveillance.  There’s a badge in my wallet and a gun on my hip.   Let’s leave it there.

There are two types of general uses of incarceration.   This is important to understand for a reason – so just bear with it.   It’s actually kind of educational.   Sort of.  (I’ll try to make it entertaining.)  

The first use of incarceration is as punishment.   We’ll get to that in a second.

The second use is to remove the person from the community.    You do this to (a.) remove the threat until it ceases to be a threat.   Or (b.), remove the person until they have changed to no longer be one.   Or (c.) to remove the threat until the climate changes to where they can be released safely.  

Good examples of A?   Death penalty or (actual) life sentences.   If someone cannot be rehabilitated (which many, although NOT all, death penalty prisoners can’t) then they need to be removed from circulation.   If they will never stop being a threat (*cough-Manson-cough*) then they should be permanently removed from society. 

Examples of B?    Juvenile lifers or long-term inmates.  Juvenile lifers are men and women who should never have been sentenced to life as children – but should have been sentenced to such a time period that they were released after enough change to no longer represent a threat.   Understand me – sentencing a juvenile to life is horrible.   It goes against everything I swore an oath to.   That said – I’ve seen too many thousands of juveniles given a slap-on-the-wrist 1-2yr sentence who just came out even harder than before.  A real “long term” sentence can actually do good in some cases. 

The recidivism rate (the rate of going back to criminal activity after release) among juvenile lifers pardoned or released in PA is effectively zero.   They, literally, do not go back to crime.  They are no longer the people they were – they are literally new men and women entering a new society.

Examples of C?   Political prisoners.   You remove them from society at large until the issue which they are a danger for (a current war, a political action, etc) is no longer an issue – then you either prosecute them civilly for prior actions or you release and send them home.    

So that, in a nutshell, is incarceration as a form of protection.   Removing threats from the community.

Now, incarceration as a punishment.    Folks, I’m sorry to say it – this one doesn’t work.  We’ve been through it for over 500 years, from debtors’ prisons to juvenile wards to homes for the criminally insane and the Federal Bureau of Prisons – all this does is make the incarcerated even worse.  

Rehabilitation is the future for those who commit crimes – not punishment.   Punishment feels great as a form of revenge for the victims – but all you wind up with is an angrier criminal who returns to the streets with no more fear of prison and a belly full of hurt.

How does this all apply to pedophilia?

Pedophiles come in two categories.   Those who have offended (Ie, criminals), and those who have not yet offended.   See the second to last word?    Not “yet”.   As in, they will offend.   They will eventually commit heinous crimes.   They will take their pedophilia to the logical conclusion, the same as someone who is manic/depressive WILL eventually have a manic episode and wind up making a mess.   All the medicine in the world won’t change that – because there isn’t a single mentally ill person in the world who isn’t non-compliant with their meds at some point. 

Will shaming someone with mental illness help them?  No.   I’ll go so far as to agree with WaPo and Huff on that – shame helps no one.   Pedophiles need specialized outside help.  They have a mental illness, the same as a sociopath (anti-social personality disorder) or a drug addict with borderline personality disorder.   And like those two –statistically they’re GOING to offend eventually. 

So that leads us back to our discussion on incarceration.

Will incarcerating a pedophile who hasn’t committed a crime yet do anything for community safety?   Maybe – but it musn’t be done.  It violates our justice system.   Innocent until proven guilty.   That’s sacred.   Most Americans outside the system will never understand just how sacred that is. 

Will incarcerating a pedophile who HAS committed a crime do anything for community safety?    Well now – that depends on how we do it.   And why we do it.  

All the hugs and cuddles in the world won’t help a pedophile (a.) cease to be a threat, or (b.) change to a new kind of person.   Mental illness can’t cease – only be mitigated and treated.   And as long as we’re having kids, incarcerating the pedophile until (c.) the climate has changed just ain’t gonna happen.

So, what’s the answer?  

Sorry guys – this time, I can’t give you one.   Or I won’t, at least.  I have personal thoughts on it – and I can’t express them, because I took an oath.   And because I’m not going to preach to a choir – any choir.  

But it’s a conversation we desperately need to have.   Publicly, not in the halls of power. 

In the meantime, pedophiles need to be held accountable.   They need to be quietly called out, and placed into treatment – whether by their own admission, with quiet deniability that allows them to keep their public lives – or by legislation.   We have 302 laws to allow for people who are suicidal to be forced into treatment by law enforcement or mental health professionals – it isn’t that hard to add pedophilia to the laws already on the books.   

What pedophiles don’t need, and SHOULDN’T be given, is the ability to give themselves a fancy “politically acceptable” name like “Minor Attracted Persons”.    And their own YouTube channels.   And their own websites, and community groups and internet fandoms.   They don’t need a positive identity recognition.  

They need help. 

In whatever form it comes in.

And not from the god damned pop-psych of Psychology Today, Washington Post or the Huffington Post.

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