Doug, All child abuse is serious, however sexual abuse creates mental illness in the survivors, whereas a beating will create van attitude problem. Both are serious crimes, and the perpertrators should recieve the harshest penalty for their crimes. The difference being a "basher" will eventually be bashed in return by his survivor, whereas a sexual assault survivor has no recourse.

Yeah, but Doug - the article isn't concerned with physical abuse. If a referendum were held tomorrow about whether the perpetrators of the crimes you mention should receive the same punishment I would be one of the first to register a "Bloody oath".

The article isn't about "so-called" sexual abuse, either. Its about sexual abuse. And those of have been tried and found guilty of such abuse.

Both physical and sexual abuse are heinous crimes - and people get "almost hysterical" over physical abuse as well.

If you sincerely question whether the reasons for this kind of response to sexual abuse are Jungian it would seem to suggest your involvement in such matters comes also simply from reading the papers.

In which case, a sincere answer to your question could be found if you were to involve yourself in any organisation that deals with the task of trying to make survivors - of any kind of abuse - into whole people again.

I feel that all sexual abuse has to be part of the human condition, how else can we explain the predatory nature of the perpetrators who wish to dominate and satisfy their own urges without any reasonable sense of purpose.
I feel that these people are sociopaths, as obviously they have no conscience. "Psychopath" would be not be appropriate terminology, as this would excuse them as having a legitimate mental condition, which they do not have.
I feel that sociopaths are part of the human condition, as they present in all areas of society, not just applying to sexual offenders, there are many types, the main common feature is their predatory nature.
To find answers and solutions to prevent or stop this curse, would just about be impossible.
I also feel that punishment should be the same for all offenders, regardless of their status, income or position in society.
These types of offenders are isolated from other prisoners, for their personal safety, this results in many of them thinking of themselves as victims, they need to be placed in their own special prison, so self confrontation maybe possible, without props being supplied by the penal system.

The responses tend to indicate that people are pretty uniform in their support for the registration of sexual predators, particularly of children.

But Doug does make a good point, and one that is worthy of more discussion. Why do we have a system which (through privacy rules/laws/government policies) grants anonymity to murderers, armed robbers, non-sexual child abusers, and general criminal scum.

Think about it. The law puts the protection of criminals ahead of the protecting the public.

Isn't that just plain backwards?

Would the world really end if everyone's criminal past, particularly any serious criminal past, were publically recorded.

People with form would find it harder to re-offend and victims (and their friends/families) would not feel betrayed by the government every time they discover the perpetrator was known to authorities.

Sure such criminals would find it harder to simply 'slip' back into regular civil life, but there is a very significant social price to be paid for offering criminals an artificial unblemished past after incarceration. I, for one, don't think it, or they, are worth it. The onus should be on such criminals to prove to society they deserve a second chance.

Greg Barns says that the chance of sex offenders reoffending is low, and assuming that this study's results are reliable, we nevertheless still have a problem.

The problem is that even psychiaters lack enough knowledge about sex offenders to unreliably predict the probability of reoffence.

Although not all sex offenders may reoffend, obviously, all repeat sex offenders were once first-time offenders while some of them would have been classified as 'low-risk'.

If there was a way we could reliably predict which of the sex offenders is likely to reoffend, then I wouldn’t hesitate to agree with Barns. But until then, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

If sex offenders don’t like the idea of being placed on a register, then perhaps they should think twice before they prey on innocent children; not until there are tests that reliably separate the high risk from the very low risk reoffenders, children should be protected at all costs.

Pedophiles and rapists who have already reoffended should be chemically castrated as an alternative to lifelong imprisonment, depending on each individual case's situation.

Doug has a good point that we need to look at the severity of (sex) crimes as well.

Astounding that suddenly many who deny absolutes now find a conscience and insist on their own absolutes. Maybe those caught up in the porn industry should also be liable to a degree as this industry continues to feed the corrupt minds of man which results in rape, child sexual abuse and every other perverted thing a person could think of.

The author is right to point out that a Community Register is pointless. I suspect most sexual abuse goes on in the homes unreported. I also suspect that step parents are far more likely to abuse than the natural parents although their always will be exceptions. The raptist/murderer who was executed (Ted Bundy) said of the numerous sex offenders he met everyone of them was into porn. It's not the locked up ones our kids and women need to be concerned with. No doubt the ones who want to selfishly indulge in porn at the expense of society will continie to defend their right to do so and then scream the loudest when children are abused.