Читать книгу Criminology For Dummies - Steven Briggs - Страница 100

Why would someone molest a child? That’s the million-dollar question. Clearly, some people have sex drives directed toward children — psychologists and psychiatrists call this condition pedophilia. But how this sex drive ultimately leads a person to actually violate a child is difficult to say.

Criminologists can certainly speculate that the increased use of the Internet has had a profound effect on the crime of child molestation. Just a few decades ago, a person with some sexual drive toward children would’ve had a tough time obtaining child pornography or finding like-minded people to associate with. Today, child molesters communicate with one another online, discuss strategies, and generally encourage one another that their behaviors are okay. And, of course, child pornography flows across the Internet virtually unabated. The combination of support from like-minded people and stimulation from child pornography may lead some people down a path where they ultimately molest a child.

Some research suggests that children who have been sexually abused are more likely to become abusers than children who have not been abused. A 2001 study by Gene Abel, MD, and Nora Harlow found that more than 47 percent of child molesters admitted being similarly abused as children. Of children who were abused more than 50 times, 82 percent became pedophiles when they matured.

Along with the greater risk of becoming molesters themselves, victims of molestation can suffer dramatic, life-altering emotional damage and possibly even destroyed familial relationships. For example, if the molester is a family member or the boyfriend of the mother, the prosecution process may pit the child against his or her own relatives. For this reason, many children are reluctant or unwilling to cooperate with police. Detectives and prosecutors with specialized expertise often work with child sex victims to help conduct interviews and get the full story.