‘THERE’S STILL HOPE’
Experts work to understand pedophilia and prevent child sex crimes, Bre McAdam writes.
Dave Feick walks around the top floor of a converted duplex in Saskatoon’s Pleasant Hill neighbourhood, pointing to a small, empty meeting room. It’s one of the meeting places used by an unusual support group for some of the most vilified people in society.
Just as there are support groups for alcoholics, Feick believes the same is needed for child porn and child sex offenders.
“Every one of them is going to be released at some point, so it’s best to have some sort of way for them to reintegrate without reoffending,” he says.
Feick is the co-ordinator of the Micah Mission, an organization that partners with local church members to offer restorative justice programs including Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA). The national, communitybased program is a support group specifically for sex offenders.
Feick says 17 of the 23 men they work with are either child porn users or direct child sex offenders.
Each support circle is comprised of volunteers, and some may have once been at the centre of the circle themselves. Volunteers offer different perspectives on staying crime-free in the community, with the hope that by gaining trust and friendships, the men will be less likely to reoffend.
The circles gather once a week, sometimes in a coffee shop, church or the Micah Mission’s humble, sparsely decorated meeting room, where, on a sunny day in July, Feick chatted with CoSA volunteer Randy Klassen.
They say the circle discussions are serious and pointed, but often informal. The offenders just need someone to listen.
“It’s a vehicle to build relationships. It’s basically life-on-life wisdom,” Klassen says.
CoSA is not a treatment program or a mandated parole or probation condition; while it may be suggested by probation or parole officers, it’s still completely voluntary.
The support group is 75 per cent to 80 per cent effective at keeping members from reoffending, according to Feick. In his five years with the Micah Mission, he says he’s only known one man to reoffend.
The program works because it holds the men accountable and helps them manage their triggers long after they have committed an offence, Feick says, adding some pedophiles he works with don’t want to reoffend because it would let their circle down.
“We’re not here to let them make excuses or justify anything they’ve done; we recognize that there are some terrible things that they’ve done,” he says. “But there’s still hope for all of them.”
PEDOPHILIA AND OFFENDING
Not all pedophiles offend, but researchers don’t know much about them because they don’t usually show up in clinics or the criminal justice system, says Dr. Michael Seto, a psychologist specializing in pedophilia who serves as director of forensic rehabilitation research at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group in Brockville, Ont.
Pedophilia — defined as a psychological disorder in which an adult or older adolescent is sexually attracted to prepubescent children — is the interest; abusing a child or looking at child porn is the behaviour.
Seto says pedophilia manifests during puberty. He uses the example of a preteen boy who is sexually attracted to children, but when he is 17 and his friends’ sexual interests have aged with them, the teen realizes his attractions have not.
“People think (pedophilia) is a choice. It’s not. Offending is a choice,” says Michael Nolin, a Saskatoon defence lawyer who has defended clients in child porn and child sex assault cases.
Seto agrees. He says studies show life experiences, such as childhood sexual abuse, do not cause pedophilia, but they may contribute to sexual offending.
Many people who use child pornography have never touched a child — and they sometimes justify using child porn as a less harmful outlet.
Jared Clarke, a six-year member of the RCMP’s Internet Child Exploitation unit, doesn’t buy that argument. “Every time an image of that child is viewed, that child is re-victimized,” he says.
While some pedophiles might view child porn as a substitute for touching a child, for others, it could also be an incitement, says Seto.
“They start wondering what it would be like to do it for real.”
Seto and his colleagues reviewed several studies involving nearly 4,500 child porn offenders and found one in eight had a criminal record for direct sexual offending. That number increased to four in eight when it involved self-reporting.
Over the last 10 to 15 years, there’s been an increase in the numbers of people charged with online child sex crimes, but direct child sexual abuse cases have been declining over the same time period, Seto says. It’s unclear whether there is a correlation between the decrease in child sexual assaults and the ability to view child porn online, he adds.
We’re not here to let them make excuses or justify anything they’ve done; we recognize that there are some terrible things that they’ve done. But there’s still hope for all of them.
TREATMENT
Pedophilia is on a spectrum — ranging from pedophiles who are only sexually attracted to children to non-exclusive pedophiles who are sexually attracted to both adults and children. Many of the men he works with have wives, Feick says.
It’s easier to treat non-exclusive pedophiles because you can focus their attention on age-appropriate relationships, Seto explains. Treating exclusive pedophiles who don’t have any other sexual interests is a greater challenge.
“In essence, what society is asking of that person is to be celibate for the rest of their lives. We need to ask that, but it’s a big ask,” he says, adding the exclusive form of pedophilia is less common than the non-exclusive form.
His current treatment approach uses cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) — teaching pedophiles more effective ways of coping with their thoughts and feelings.
“(They’re) going to have those thoughts and feelings, that’s understandable given that (they) have that attraction, but let’s not let it snowball into ruminating about it, trying to set up situations where you might offend,” Seto says.
Treatment also involves gaining insight into offending, says Dr. Mark Olver, a forensic psychologist with the University of Saskatchewan who specializes in sexual violence risk assessment and treatment. Many of the men he sees don’t realize child porn promotes the abuse and exploitation of children.
“They don’t get that. The light bulb is not on in the kitchen upstairs.”
Some treatment options include medications to lower sex drive. Even though a recent National Post story reported that an Ottawa clinic claims to cure pedophiles, Seto says it’s difficult to know if people with that affliction can ever stop being sexually attracted to children.
Sometimes, pedophiles have ulterior motives for saying they are “cured” — like getting parole, Seto notes. His research involves developing methods that don’t rely entirely on self-reporting, like measuring sexual arousal in a lab and exploring how people respond to images through computerized assessment techniques.
Both Seto and Nolin agree that suppressing pedophiliac thoughts and feelings could do more harm than good. Instead, Nolin says he believes pedophiles need to acknowledge that their brains are “hardwired” for these urges, and professionals need to ask “What can we do to prevent you from acting on them? How can we redirect that urge?”
IN-CUSTODY PROGRAMS
There is no Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) program geared specifically toward child porn or child sex offenders, a CSC spokesperson confirmed.
Child sex offenders are eligible for general sex offender treatment programs. In Saskatchewan, those are only available at federal institutions — the Saskatchewan Penitentiary and the Regional Psychiatric Centre. That means a child sex or child porn offender must receive a federal sentence to have a chance at getting in-custody sex offender treatment.
Most child porn offenders get provincial jail time and have to wait until their sentences are over to receive outpatient treatment as part of either parole or probation conditions, Nolin says. Outpatient sex offender treatment is offered by the Saskatoon Health Region. Those who do receive federal sentences may be referred to either moderate or high-intensity sex offender programming, even though they haven’t committed a handson offence. It all depends on their risk level, CSC states.
For example, Shane Dale Pattison (who, after receiving one of the highest child porn-related sentences in Saskatchewan history, allegedly re-offended upon his release), did not qualify for sex offender treatment while serving his five-year prison term. Although a judge deemed him a high risk to reoffend, corrections staff assessed him as a medium risk, his lawyer told reporters.
According to an emailed statement from CSC, in-custody sex offender programming requires participants to identify what risk factors they need to manage. “They also learn skills that specifically address sexual self-regulation, including managing and modifying problematic arousal, finding positive ways of coping, expressing sexual feelings in more healthy ways, and changing the thinking that supports sexual offending,” the email reads.
It states offenders then create a self-management plan that helps them use what they have learned during the program.
THE PROACTIVE MODEL
In-custody programs, as well as the Micah Mission, are reacting to people who have been sentenced for a crime, but there is little available to help pedophiles before they offend.
“For (that) individual, where does he go? Who does he disclose that to? Because that’s going to follow him around for life,” Nolin notes.
He says many of his child porn clients have a “high degree of selfloathing ” and struggled with pedophilia for years before offending.
Nolin says he’s been told that 30 years ago, people with pedophiliac tendencies could receive outpatient treatment from mental health professionals in Canada before offending. That type of model still exists in Scandinavia; Nolin speculates there weren’t enough trained professionals to keep the program running here.
“I’d much rather teach CBT techniques to somebody who is starting to discover they have these sexual feelings for children at an early stage, where hopefully it can become integrated into how they live their lives, versus 10 or 15 years down the road when they’ve been offending for a while and now finally they’ve been caught for it,” Seto says.
He believes the stigma of being a pedophile prevents people from coming forward when their inclinations start to emerge.
“Of course there are strong emotional reactions to (pedophilia), but that reaction really can stand in the way of prevention.”
An online support network called Virtuous Pedophiles exists for people with pedophilia who don’t want to offend. Having a controlled, responsible place for people to seek help is important because some are finding the wrong kind of support networks in online chat rooms, says Clarke.
Instead of feeling ashamed for what they are doing, pedophiles can log on and talk to like-minded offenders who justify their urges and actions.
“I’ve seen it personally in group chats where it’s just like a frenzy, where they encourage each other that what they’re doing isn’t wrong.”
DOES TREATMENT WORK?
Calling it a relatively new problem, Olver says there isn’t much research to prove or disprove the effectiveness of child porn treatment. However, he says there is evidence that shows the recidivism rates for child porn-only offenders is “incredibly low” — less than five per cent.
His theory is that child porn offenders typically have careers and families — and therefore a higher incentive to manage their urges — compared to hands-on sex offenders.
But sex offenders who get sex offender treatment programming are much less likely to reoffend, Nolin points out, referring to Olver’s research.
Nolin believes treatment can only work if pedophiles feel comfortable seeking it out — both after and before an offence occurs.
“If we really want to do something about this and not simply be reacting after offences have taken place, we’ve got to confront the stigma head-on,” Seto says.
“My aim, ultimately, is I want to prevent harm to children.”
Feick says his support group has the same goal.
“One of the models of CoSA is no more victims. We’re helping (members) not to reoffend.”
I’d much rather teach CBT techniques to somebody who is starting to discover they have these sexual feelings for children at an early stage, where hopefully it can become integrated into how they live their lives, versus 10 or 15 years down the road when they’ve been offending for a while and now finally they’ve been caught.