I don't know where anyone got the idea that I was supporting pedophiles by asking the question, "If a victim can achieve a normal life, then should the pedophile who never commits another act be punished forever?" My belief that pedophiles deserve permanent jail time is based on his (or her) ruining his victim's life, so that the victim will never again be truly normal. If a victim can overcome the abuse, and if an offender doesn't re-offend (as high as the recidivism rate is, there is a possibility of someone not offending again), why should his whole life be spent in punishment? Again, I'm not sympathizing with a pedophile, and I haven't heard of any victims who truly get over it, but if I'm understanding some of you correctly, you're saying you did overcome it. I'm trying to understand what you're telling me.

fayerody said:
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and hearing that someone else heard that someone else knows someone who did it once and then lived a great life afterwards.......come on, that isn't factual. let's keep it to stories that happened and are pertinent to this thread.

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Just because it isn't likely, doesn't mean it isn't factual. And this isn't something my bf "heard"...it was in the news. You don't know if that guy committed more acts after his last accused act. And I'm not saying he shouldn't be punished for the rest of his life and he doesn't deserve the harassment he's getting...because I suspect his victim(s) never got over it.

As for "the rights of the pedophile," I haven't heard anyone use those words. I certainly haven't.

jennie said:
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...lock up all sex offenders!

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I'm assuming you mean all rapists and child sex offenders. Some people are labeled sex offenders for consensual crimes that don't belong on the books. Up until two years ago, some places still had laws on the books making it a crime to have oral or %#@&amp;#! sex. There actually have been people who have gone to jail on these dumb charges. One man, years ago, was on trial, accused of rape by his wife. He was found not guilty on that charge, but when his wife mentioned they'd had consensual oral sex, he was thrown in jail for that, because sodomy (which includes oral sex by some definitions) was against the law.

Did anyone watch Oprah yesterday? She did a show about child sex trafficking. Ricky Martin was a guest, discussing it. He'd seen it in his frequent trips to India, and educated himself about it.