Hi
Sitting here reading the info on who is harming our children and paedophile lists and it got me thinking and i need to ask this question
What is the difference between a sex offender and a paedophile and where do we draw the line....
What if your

child is molested by another family member say like your 14 year old son.....is he a paedophile and what do you do.....
Do they get put on a paedophile register....
What happens in that situation
Luv Deb

There is no uniform definition of paedophile in this country.  The legal, law enforcement and public arena all define it differently.  There is a medical definition which defines paedophilia as a mental disorder characterised by symptoms of recurrent, intense sexual fantasies about children. Thus, legally, a paedophile is somebody who has these fantasies or sexual orientation.  Acting on those fantasies and sexual orientation will bring the paedophile into the criminal arena. 

A sex offender is somebody who commits a sexual offence against anybody.  This could include those who assault children as well but who are not paedophiles i.e. they do not have recurrent sexual fantasies about children or are sexually orientated towards children.  These offenders may simply have perpetrated the assaults against the children because the children are there and are extra vulnerable. 

The difference is, perhaps, the level of pathology attached to the activity.  A paedophile notoriously rationalises their behaviour believing that the children are willing participants in the activity or that it is totally appropriate for children to be initiated into sexual activity. Paedophiles also have a very, very high recividism rate because they daily grapple with intense urges to have sexual contact with children and are generally unresponsive to treatment which aims to alter their warped views about the appropriateness of this conduct.

Nabokov's Lolita is a very good book to read about a paedophile.  Reading this book you get a rare insight into the mind of the paedophile protagonist and the level of delusion that operates on their minds.  It is, incidentally, not a graphic book at all.

The hypothetical 14 year old son is a good example to highlight the distinction between paedophile and sex offender.  A lot of paedophiles report their urges towards children beginning in their adolescence.  The 14 year old would thus, in this circumstances, be a paedophile in the making.  Or, the 14 year old might be acting out behavours that he has learned or is otherwise disturbed.  It all depends on his motivation and orientation. 

The distinction, at the end of the day, is legally fairly pointless.  What you have is a violation of a child.  The distinction may be relevant in determining treatment options etc but what the courts are interested is what criminal act has occurred. Thus, for that reason, we do not have a paedophile register as such in this country but we do have a sex offender register.  Certain sexual acts will automatically register an offender as a sex offender requiring reporting of where he or she is living etc.  Some offenders have to report for life.  Some for a short time. 

The female teacher who had sex with her 15 year old student recently (I can't remember her name) was listed on a sex offender's register.  She was not, however, a paedophile despite the Current Affair program asserting that she was.  She had a situational attraction to a child and acted on it.  She was a sex offender. 

Thus, to cut a long story short - a paedophile is somebody who has sexual fantasies about children particularly.  He or she may act on those fantasies and becomes a paedophile sex offender.  Not all adults who have sex with children can be classed as paedophiles.  Some of them have no particular sexual orientation to the child but just use the child as a sexual object because they can.  These ofenders are sex offenders but without the pathology of paedophilia attached. 

Whether an offender is a paedophile or a sex offender doesn't really matter.  If an adult has sex with a child then he/she has committed an abhorrent act worthy of society's full censure.

I hope this helps.