I wrote the following in a response to a comment in about an article in The Time newspaper.
I cannot find a way to link to that comment hence I am reproducing it here.
My response is to a comment by http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article4134892.ece?hubRefSrc=email#lf_comment=183332645
Can you move on from, understandably demonising Harris for repeatedly
acting out lusts, perhaps an addiction in ways he could not contain,
perhaps - I stress perhaps - I do not know - in ways that others cannot
contain urges or addictions, to drink, smoke, gamble, etc..
Addiction, urges are not always not towards ingesting a chemical.
I
once worked with a sex offender who having been in custody, for 30
years, was in his seventies, still had the the testosterone level of a
teenager and when tested with a few hours parole, was found to be
approaching a teenage boy of the age he had offended against 30 years
earlier.
Why it might be a good shock, I suggest is because if we
do not continue to direct our anger etc. towards individual
perpetrators, we may come to accept that society is a long way from
understanding and managing the sexual urges of many within our society.
Some of those with the propensity to be sex offenders also can, in
other fields be productive individuals, worthy of praise for their other
abilities and how they use them for the benefit of society as well as
themselves and their families. Once we understand that ordinary people
can be sex offenders, maybe as well as protecting our children and
vulnerable people from them, we can eventually discover how to help them
from a young age manage themselves so as not to spread harm and danger.
Maybe
the Times will invite some contributions from some who have experience
of working with sex offenders, to help with our need for increased
understanding?
