British Methodist report on sex offenders online

The Methodist report on sex offenders (not just people who have committed offences involving children) that Jules told of in a recent post is online, at the link below. The report was clearly distorted in the news article that Jules found, for much of it is standard stuff (the average offender has hundreds of victims, children never solicit sex, etc.). There's nothing revolutionary about the report. As is always the case in such reports, there is no mention of ministry to non-offending pedophiles. Some of the report, though, is applicable to all minor-attracted adults. Here are some of the more interesting quotations: "We have attempted in this report to set out what is known about sex offenders and have concluded that, while therapeutic interventions during and after custodial sentences may have some effect on future behaviour and reduce the risk of future offending, it is more appropriate to talk of sex offenders as 'recovering' than 'recovered' or 'cured'. Even if they participate in a therapeutic pramme whilst in prison (and many offenders do not), when they have served their sentence they need continuing support from other people to help them rebuild and conduct their lives in a way which manages the thoughts, feelings, behaviours and situations which, in the past, have moved them towards offending." "There is no higher rate of mental illness recorded amongst those who commit sexual offences than amongst the general population. In other words, there is no standard psychopathology of sexual offending to which it can be attributed. Sexual offending is not an illness, it is a behaviour consciously undertaken with the knowledge that it is regarded by the majority of people as being morally repugnant and that the discovery will involve relatively severe punitive sanctions, social ostracism and outrage." "What does the sex offender need to receive from the church community as part of his rehabilitation? Acceptance, love, a place to worship and join in fellowship, comrades for the journey, and people who accept him as he is and commit themselves to supporting him in his attempt to live a new life as a recovering sex offender." "Within the wider community many known sex offenders find it difficult to rebuild their lives on release from prison. They are not welcome. They may be hounded from one place to another. Nowhere is really safe for them. They are demonized. And the Church cannot condone this way of treating anyone. Indeed, the Church should bear witness to a different approach to all offenders from that of society as a whole. It should welcome their families and enable them to join or remain part of the wider fellowship of the Church. At the same time the Church needs to be seen to stand with vulnerable and abused people, to ensure that victims and survivors are supported and their pastoral needs met, and to do what it can to make life safer for children. For many sex offenders, social isolation and a failure to integrate into an adult community contribute to an emotional lovelessness and poor self-esteem that serve to increase the risk of re-offending. To offer them appropriate support is, at the same time, to further the needs of child protection." Heather [E-mail]   [Home Page] The Church and Sex Offenders