Ex Member wrote on Dec 14
th, 2015 at 5:24pm:
Quote:True pedophiles represent a very minuscule portion of the population of offenders, but the rest of the population who commit offenses do so due to cognitive distortions and such, and never quite rid themselves of these distortions of thinking, leaving themselves at risk for future offenses.
I personally don't believe pedophilia to be pathological. Inside all of us are a collection of attributes, evolved over time via natural selection, which has allowed our species to survive. At some point in the distant past, those who were attracted to younger members of their species were probably more successful in passing their DNA onto females who were younger and stronger. However, as social aspects of humanity evolved, so did the idea of taboos. So today, sexual interest or behavior with minors is the modern taboo. Those with a "natural" inclination towards young ones are forced to shamefully internalize these desires. This is where the pathology comes in--the conflict between biological and social evolution. This conflict results in personality disorders and the offender cycle.
The polygraph is used in the sex offender containment triad as a 24 hour tail. They contend that this provides them with a tool to best allocate their limited investigative resources. Treatment professionals state that an offender cannot make progress unless all past sexual behaviors are elucidated and point to the polygraph's efficacy in reaching this goal.
Can an offender successfully employ countermeasures during maintenance polygraphs to complete treatment and later reoffend? If such is possible, then the program depends too much on the polygraph and has not implemented other risk safeguards into their treatment model.
Also, forgive me, but you seem to be minimizing your "rear end grabbing."
I could see the logic in your argument - to a point. Minors of a certain age cannot reproduce, so from a purely biological or evolutionary standpoint, why would someone/anyone try to initiate sexual contact with them? Considering that humans are the only (known) creatures to partake in sexual activity for the pleasure element, it becomes painfully obvious that minors of a certain age are targeted, for a lack of better terms, for other purposes and reasons. For instance, many offenders considered pedophiles openly admit that they identify with children emotionally. Another common thread is that pedophiles often don't have appropriate sexual outlets... many never having had even basic sexual contact with age appropriate people. Children are easy for them to take advantage of, to manipulate to fulfill their want for sexual fulfilment, to satisfy their pleasure centers, NOT for reproductive purposes - so those predisposed to doing so take advantage of who they can. While the need/want for sex is evolutionary and biological, I believe that this only applies towards females with the capability to reproduce. By nature, anything else is purely psychological/pathological. Case in point - Most child sex offenses are committed against females who either appear to be of reproducing age or are showing signs of maturation (8 - 17 years old), which makes your point nicely... but the other victims of child sex abuse - males of any age, or female children under a certain age, are targeted for the reasons I specified. An innate desire to have sex with kids is not biological, and can't be, as it serves absolutely no evolutionary purpose.
In Northwestern Wisconsin, where I reside, the SOT maintenance polygraph program is not a 24 hour tail. By nature, it cannot be because they ask a limited amount of questions on the poly, usually routine stuff like 'you use any drugs?' or 'have sex with anyone?'... rarely, if ever, do they delve into issues relevant to your criminal history or anything treatment related. To boot, it says in the Department of Corrections administrative code that no one can face revocation proceedings based solely on a 'failed' polygraph, meaning that there has to be other 'evidence' of wrong-doing. Even an accusation of wrong-doing coupled with a 'failed' polygraph is not enough to get a person locked up on a PO hold, let alone face revocation proceedings. Group therapy - mandated whether you have successfully completed treatment in an incarcerated setting or not - consists of you and 9 other 'offenders' sitting in a room with a 'counselor', bitching about how hard it is to be a sex offender, with maybe 15 minutes of treatment-related stuff going on. This is over an hour to two hour period, once a week. Assignments are to be done on your own time, whenever you feel like it.
It is hard to be accountable for your behaviors when you can't be held accountable for your behaviors. Polys are a psychological billy club, used to elicit confessions of wrong-doing in the sex offender community. Because of the possible repercussions of not being held accountable for behaviors that may increase risk, I am ok with this.. Yet again, this is why I don't share info with other offenders. If they knew what I knew, or even knew that I knew what I knew...
And for the record, there is no minimization involved in the recounting of my crime. My crime, as it were, would be considered a minor misdemeanor in 48 out of the 50 states. In Wisconsin, the same act is a class C felony, punishable by up to 40 years? I literally grabbed a butt of a post-pubescent minor female,not a stranger to me, and they brought out the whooping stick. No criminal history, mind you, at the age of 35 + when this happened in 2013. They had to bring out the statute book and charge me with something generalized like 'Incest with a Child by a step-parent', for a butt grab? Regardless of the reasoning for the aforementioned butt grab, they went overboard both in their charging and their sentence. When my lawyer and the DA were discussing reducing the charge to 4th-degree sexual assault - a misdemeanor - they legally couldn't do it, because there was no penetration involved or attempted. By Wisconsin law, if they were going to charge me at all, it HAD to be this charge. The reason that the Judge sentenced me to prison time, instead of the agreed upon time served and two years of probation, was because of the 'seriousness of the felony charge'. The DA even said during their statement at sentencing that this was a case of me 'crossing a boundary, and not realizing it'. There was no victim witness statement, because my step-daughter thought it was all B.S.,and to this day is angry at her mother for using her to accomplish her relationship goals.
I don't minimize, but I will call a spade a spade. Wisconsin is also one of a very few states to do bifurcated sentencing, which all the forward thinking states did away with(some 48 of them, mind you).
While polys don't work, in the sense that the science is junk, their intended goal has useful applications in a post-conviction setting.
For the record, my treatment provider knows that I know what I know... and is ok with it. Anyone else would face revocation proceedings for having learned about the truth of polys/countermeasures. In a post conviction setting, I am using this knowledge to assure that I am not subject to scrutiny for a 'failed' polygraph when, in reality, I do nothing that goes toward the potential for increased risk. I have absolutely zero to feel guilty about, and have the right to be safeguarded against false positives.
Consequently, the examiner could ask me if I was the Pope of Antarctica, and I'd 'pass' the question...