- Introduction
News of a
Mara scholar student had hit Malaysia a few weeks ago. The Star Online (2015)
reported that, Nur Fitri Azmeer Nordin had 30,000 videos and photos of smut, in
which the British police said was the most extreme child porn they had ever
come across. This issue then had been viral, and Malaysian started open their
eyes to look into it. However, Astroawani (2015) has claimed that, this is not new
because previously the murder of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin once becomes a hot topic
in 2007, where the eight-year-old was kidnapped and sexually assaulted and
murdered. Her body was later found stuffed inside a bag. Hence, it is just a matter
of society awareness regarding this issue.
Pedophilia defined by the
International Classification of Diseases (ICD) as the “sexual preference for
children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age”.
While, pedophilia term in Malaysia Law is more familiar as Statutory rape.
Ibrahim (2014) stated that,
In Malaysia, rape
is one of the capital crimes whenever violence is involved in order to assault
women for the purpose of having unlawful sex intercourse with force. Statutory
rape is the crime similar in nature, but specifically, statutory rape is
involved when the age of the victim is less than sixteen years old. Malaysian
Penal Code (Act 574) (hereinafter PC) is the only single statute which codified
offence of statutory rape in Malaysia.
Again an unreliable news on 14th
May 2015, where, a father had acquitted and discharged reasoning that it was unsafe to
convict him of rape charges based on the minor's testimony. The man
scientifically proven to be the father of a child conceived by a 14-year-old
can be let off free, while the girl struggles to care of the baby. This news had
get everyone attention. Above all, people now are aware on pedophilia,
statutory rape, molestation or whatever named given, yet this issue had not
taken seriously within authorities.
This paper is
about, Pedophilia: Hoe it impact Family Institution. So, this paper presented
about pedophilia, the causes of pedophilia, and the impact of pedophilia.
- Causes of issue
What
are the indicators of pedophile issue? There are several factors been
identified as the contributors which can be divided into to two parts, namely
internal factors and external factors. Personality factor is recognized as the
major reason in internal factors causing someone to be a pedophilic while
disruption in social relationship is the major contributor in the external
factors.
·
Internal: Impulsive, antisocial
personality
Dwyer, Robinson and Travis (2000) in
their research states that a history of impulsive, antisocial behavior is a
well-documented risk factor associated with some child molesters. Child
molesters who committed their first sexual offense in adolescence had histories
of being disruptive in school either verbally or physically attacking peers and
teachers, showed high levels of juvenile antisocial behavior. However, when
they become adult, the situation becomes worst.
They revealed a greater degree of nonsexual aggression. For some types
of child molesters, sexual offenses are part of a longer illegal history,
reflecting an antisocial lifestyle and impulsive behavioral traits that
probably had been present from childhood.
·
External: Disruption of social relationship
Social factors have
also been identified as potential contributing and or identifying factors for
pedophilia and sex offending. Research has indicated a correlation between the ability to form and
maintain relationship among the offenders. (Olshan, 2014). Normally, this
ability is developed via a learning process that begins at birth and continues
through childhood and adolescence and into adulthood. However, the disruption
occurs when there is a frequency of changes in primary
caregivers and the longest time spent with any single caregiver; it reflects
the stability and consistency of the child’s interpersonal relationships with
significant adults (Reno, Dwyer, Robinson and Travis, 2000).
Caregiver
inconstancy, a powerful predictor of the degree of sexual violence expressed in
adulthood, interferes with the development of long-term supportive
relationships, increasing the likelihood of an attachment disorder. Reno,
Dwyer, Robinson and Travis, (2000) also states that attachment disorders may be
characterized by intense anxiety, distrust of others, insecurity, dysfunctional
anger, and failure to develop normal age-appropriate social skills. Thus,
specifiable early childhood experiences may lead to interpersonal deficits and
low self-esteem that severely undermine development of secure adult
relationships. Individuals having these interpersonal and social shortcomings
are more likely than others to turn to children to meet their psychosexual
needs.
- Impact of issue to the family
Pedophilia issue
mainly impact on two major areas in family which are family bonding and family
financial. For the pedophiles issues
in family, research lean towards focus on the relationship of family dynamics
to the sexual offense or on recidivism of convicted pedophiles (Muscari, 2007).
Pedophilia experienced normally affects the abused child psychologically.
Studies have found that the children abused by pedophiles have higher measures
of trauma, depression, and neurosis on standardized psychometric testing. These
children often have problems with long-term intimacy and feelings of guilt and
shame over their role in the incident (Levenson & Tewksbury, 2009). Obviously
this will created unhealthy atmosphere within the family. All this will affect
the whole system of the family. The relationship with family members will be
not strong as it supposed to be because the children may be closed to the
family members because the child will not function well in her/his roles in the
family.
In
addition, after the offender starts to develop the relationships, he/she may
begin to isolate the child from his/her family and friends. This may include stimulating
conflicts within the family, distancing the child from friends or family or
simply being available to help out with babysitting, special outings, rides
home and so on (Jensen & Jensen, n.d).
Apart
from that, family members living with a registered sex offender (RSO) were more
likely to experience threats and harassment by neighbors. Children of RSOs in
the other hand reportedly experienced adverse consequences including
stigmatization and differential treatment by teachers and classmates (Levenson
& Tewksbury, 2009).
Giugliano
(2011), a clinical social worker says that sexual abuse is “very divisive” for
the families of abusers. In cases of incest, when the victim is a member of the
abuser’s family, the trustworthiness between abuser and the victim will be
broken.
Besides
that, the issues of pedophilia will create financial problem within the family.
Legal fees can be overwhelming for families who do not qualify for legal aid.
Moreover, imprisonment usually results in job loss for the offender. Declining
income can lead to the loss of the family materials physical needs. The
incarceration itself is a further drain on family finances because the family
must pay for the inmate's clothing, phone, medical, and other costs. (Muscari,
2007). Employment problems experienced by the RSO, and subsequent financial
hardships, emerged as the most pressing issue identified by family members
(Levenson & Tewksbury, 2009). Financial problem obviously will give great
pressure to the family.
- Roles of counselor
For pedophilia issues, counselors
really have very important roles to help the family to move on. Counselor can
be helper to help both family of the offender and the victim. Many
psychological areas affected by the issues within both families. Although no treatment
for pedophilia is effective unless the pedophile is willing to engage in the
treatment, but there where the roles of counselor is important to make sure
that the pedophile can help him/herself and the family.
According to Ryan & Richard
(2007), currently, much of the focus of pedophilic treatment is on stopping
further offenses against children rather than altering the pedophile’s sexual
orientation toward children. Other interventions designed to manage these
pedophilic urges include careful forensic and therapeutic monitoring and
reporting, use of testosterone-lowering medications, use of SSRIs, and surgical
castration. A popular treatment option is testosterone suppression by
pharmacologic means (eg, antiandrogenic therapy or chemical castration).
Besides that, the implementation of preventative
treatment programs to help pedophiles avoid engaging in sex offending behaviors
has not been widely studied. (Olshan, 2014).
However, several countries have been successful in implementing programs
in this effort. Olshan (2014) states that a media campaign, which provided the
general public with information about the program was launched. The media
campaign was designed to communicate empathy for the situation of the
individuals, no judgment regarding the individual, guarantee of no criminal
consequences, assurance of confidentiality, and reduction of guilt and shame.
- Conclusion
In conclusion, pedophilia is
compulsive, psychosexual disorder with profound implications for the abused
child, perpetrator, and community. Thus, issue of pedophilia cannot be put
aside as the children will be the generation that will create future’s history.
Society and especially professional helper need to understand the causes and
impact of this issue in view of family well-being. It is important for counselor
to understand the various types of pedophiles, the profile of the abused
children, and the offenders’ responses to treatment and their risk for repeated
offense. Children need to be thought in their tender age to be open with family
in who they contact with. The adults in fact need to willingly lend their ears
to listen to the children if they feel insecure and take haste action if the
issues once it can be identified. Parents cannot be denied as the vessel or the
shelter to the well-being of the children socially.
Written by,
Carolyn anak Kerani
Nurlatifah Abdul Rahim @ Halmi
Nurul Fatihah Amir
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