Remember, it's the pedophile who is seeking... the person on the other end of the conversation is not making them become a pedophile! It is illegal because regardless of who they really are chatting up, if THEY think it's a minor, then it's illegal here.

BTW some men who have been caught do take the offer of getting shots to balance their testosterone (problem is they quit getting the shots) and others have been castrated..which ends the lust. Doesn't sound quite like only a mental illness to me. But if it were just a hormone problem, why would only minor children satiate it?

IMO one can't tolerate this behavior just because it might be a mental illness. We don't allow psychotic ppl to injure others (or themselves if we can prevent it) just because they are psychotic do we?

What this means imo is that instead of jail time and community listing, they should be in mental wards? They don't have enough room for those of us who want to get well, what would happen if they were all filled with ppl who don't want to (and indeed, don't believe they are mentally ill?) IDK.

I agree, it needs to be an ongoing process...whether it's publicized for ratings or not. Education will make society do something maybe?