Although Rebecca Bauman's column sighting the need for rehabilitation for sex offenders is respectable, she forgot to mention the psychology behind these individuals.
While a "recovered" alcoholic cannot consume alcohol, research has shown that a past pedophile cannot be near children, as the temptation is normally too great to resist.
As I understand it, all cases are like this.
Maybe offenders that have been abused themselves can receive effective treatment. \
However, there are too many cases of those who cannot recover to waste effort into fixing these criminals and allowing them near innocent children.
Instead, we should focus our efforts on treating assaulted victims and preventing the negative effects they have to cope with later in life.
In this respect, we may also prevent them from assaulting others eventually, as Bauman suggests. In the meantime, I support any town keeping these offenders away from children, whatever their cause may be.
