AllAmerican75 said:
I don't think you'll be labeled a psycho for something like a mandatory minimum sentence of death for pedophiles/rapists/murderers/child molesters. In fact HAL and I proposed and agreed upon something along those lines earlier.
Your point about the rewiring of brain chemistry makes a lot of sense. But I don't believe you can totally discount that there are some people out there who are hardwired to commit criminal acts such as murder or pedophilia. While I believe that there are some people who are wired that way from birth, there are also those who have had their brains re-wired by traumatic events. I think I might have made my point somewhat convoluted in my original post. No worries, it happens.
Simulated AW Smilies.
No, your message wasn't convoluted - theoretical psychodynamics was my area of study in both undergrad and grad school, so I go off on tangents a bit. My fault, not yours. I have a knee-jerk reaction to notions of hardwiring because it has poisoned the psychological community. You're absolutely right, some people are just born sick. Some are irrepairably twisted by traumatic events.
My objection is not to that, but to the liberties that some have taken regarding that phenomenon. It is estimated that over 25% of Americans will suffer from clinical depression at some point in their life. The biological model of psychology states that depression is due to an inherent chemical imbalance in the brain, most likely a deficiency of serotonin or a dysfunction in serotonin receptors. Were this true, then logic would follow that over a quarter of the country would have a brain disorder (albeit a vague one with apparently no effects on cognition or other brain functions) - an absurd percentage on par with the Black Plague. Obviously, this cannot be the case.
We have only a very elementary understanding of the interaction between brain chemistry and mental states, and this gray area has been manhandled by those with agendas. Do pedophiles have a chemical proclivity towards their sickness? To a limited degree, probably yes. Do they retain control over their impulses? Probably most of the time. We don't know yet the line of demarcation where one's emotional/chemical disposition overrides one's will. But for the legal (or any other) community to hijack the answer and a relieve a person of responsibility for their actions is clearly wrong.
Besides, even if pedophilia is indeed an intrinsic, inalterable mental disease which renders one unable to control their actions, what does that change? Should we deal with them any differently than if the crime were a conscious, willful decision? Either way, the trauma on the child is the same.
Sorry to be longwinded - Simulated AW smiles
