He was hoarding video tapes and images in his bedroom, which were found by police, he was arrested and placed into custody.
His lawyer says he was molested himself as a child, and with his disabilities “In his world it is entirely normal and appropriate that men have sex with boys … it is simply a product of his early childhood and his intellectual disability.”
The lawyer claims, and the judge agrees, that he is incapable of understanding that these images and the acts therein are wrong.
But if he’s incapable of understanding these acts are wrong, does that make him more or less of a risk to the community at large? Should he be put in jail? In a mental hospital? Released into care?
My immediate thought is that even if he is “more” of a risk than your standard pedophile, surely the fact that he doesn’t know his feelings are wrong would mean that it would be easier to keep tabs on his activities. Rather than secretively grooming children through the internet or other means, if he were going to act on his urges would he simply approach the children directly and thus be easier to control?
But then if he were going to act on these urges at all, even in an open manner, surely that means he needs to be confined, his activities & movements restricted in some fashion?
Luckily I’m not the Judge, because I don’t have a clue. But then neither does he according to the report.
So what should be done about the man who thinks there’s nothing wrong with men having sex with children, and who allegedly doesn’t have the mental faculties to ever understand that it is wrong?
Its not that they dont think its wrong…they just know action X feels good, and they do it. No concept of consequences or rationalizations. Things just feel good, or don’t feel good. I have a friend who was upper management for a group of homes for seriously developmentally disabled adults. Some of the stories of the odd sexual behaviors many of these folks exhibit would freak alot of people out (and probably inspire an odd porn producer or two).
If he truly cannot understand right and wrong as it pertains to the safety of others, he needs to be in the custody of someone who can monitor his behavior, just like I’m expected to monitor the behavior of my 3 year old. If his family can’t or won’t, then a group home. If they can’t or won’t accept that responsibility, than some sort of state custody - an institution if he’s broken no laws but is a danger to others or prison or jail as a last resort.
Ideally, I’d prefer it to be in the least restrictive environment possible, for his sake, but it has to be one that can keep him safe and out of trouble, again for his sake.
Where did he get the child pornography? I’ve been on the web for a while and I’ve been to adult shops, and I’ve never found it. (I’ve never looked for it, mind you.) How can someone mentally disabled obtain videotapes or such of an illegal activity?
The same thing we do (whatever it could be) with people who can’t understand that another crime is wrong. I’m not sure why the fact he’s a paedophile would change anything. Surely, owning child porn isn’t the worst crime committed by people who are mentally impaired.
I assume some form of custody or monitoring.
As for how he found child porn in the first place, I assume it must have been in a relatively easy and straightforward way, or else it’s unlikely the judge would have concluded that his mental impairment is such that he can’t be deemed responsible. At first I thought that he could have gotten them from his abuser. But on second thought, something like taking pictures of underage people living in the same facility (I suspect he’s probably living in some sort of institution) might be more likely.
i dont get how any prosecution could fail this case, it seems like anything other than a full trial under law as a fully functioning adult would be a total failure to the prosecution…
he’s not a fully functioning adult, but isn’t prison supposed to change the way he will function when he re-enters society? I think if he can communicate whatsoever he will be able to get the message that a person goes to jail when they take pictures or collect pictures of children portrayed in a sexual way.
A 24-hour sheltered group home situation where he doesn’t have the privilege to leave the house without one-to-one chaperoning and has no access to the internet seems to be an appropriate solution. If he’s incapable of standing trial but isn’t insane, but still poses a danger to the community, then put him somewhere with people who understand how to care for someone who is mentally deficient as he is.
It may be “supposed to” do that, but it has a very bad success rate at it, even for fully functional adults who can logically connect their crime with their punishment 12 months later. I don’t see how he’d connect the two; it’d be like beating your dog for a poop pile left on the carpet 12 hours ago. Poor dog doesn’t even remember doing it, much less understand that your hitting him now is punishment for that then.
Maybe, if it were swift enough. But I also have to wonder…if he’s been living in an institution (and yes, that’s if, I don’t know if he has or not), is jail really that different? Different enough to be a deterrent? He might wonder why people are being mean to him, and why his room has a toilet in it now, but I don’t think (and more importantly, the judge doesn’t think) that he’ll connect that with looking at dirty pictures.
Everyone knows my medieval attitude toward proper treatment of pedophiles.
That said- not prison. Prison or therapy probably aren’t going to teach this poor fellow any lessons. So my call- humane institutionalization for however long it takes to make sure he’s harmless- probably life.
There doesn’t seem to be any indication that he’s just going to be released. The officials are just trying to figure out how to keep him from doing any harm.
OMG! I’d save anything lethal for if he got out, hurt kids & had some sort of Houdini-like powers of escape- and even then, it would be humanely putting him to sleep.
