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  • Essay / Pedophilia and the criminal justice system - 1458

    The Central Administration Committee for Pedophilia of the NVSH decided in 1973 to send out a questionnaire in an attempt to find out the different aspects of pedophilia itself and the composition of the group (Bernard, 1975). The questions asked were about personal things like age, education, etc., questions regarding their pedophilia, questions about surrogates to help combat the problem and finally questions regarding conflicts with society and criminal justice . Most of the people who responded to the questionnaire were under 40 years old. This is surprising given the image that criminal justice and the media give us. We generally tend to see a man over 40 who is senile. Ninety percent of pedophiles were single and childless. Their employment profiles also varied widely, ranging from office jobs to academic professions. Overwhelmingly, when we go back to the diagnostic criteria for when to diagnose a pedophilic disorder, we generally don't diagnose someone in adolescence due to puberty. In the questionnaire, people with this disorder realized their disorder between 10 and 20 years old. This is shocking because at the age of ten, they have not yet reached puberty and many do not know what sex is. Most kids have same-sex relationships as friends, meaning girls think boys are disgusting. They grow out of it once they reach puberty. This question calls into question the importance of research into adolescence to determine when pedophilia may actually begin. What is even more shocking and calls into question further research is the fact that the age at which individuals had their first pedophilic contact with a child was between 11 and 20 years old. Eleven is young enough to know about sex and its sexual connotations. The ages at which individuals were most interested varied. The highest percentage was that of pubescent, elderly