Pedophile Prison Planet

[Jeff Gerke]

If you've read my novel Operation: Firebrand--Crusade you know I have serious anger issues when it comes to pedophiles. If you read that book, you'll see me (in the person of my protagonist) kicking the tar out of one such predator.

I was reading today about precious Sarah Haley Foxwell. The poor child (11) was abducted by a pedophile, no doubt molested, and murdered. Her body was dumped in the woods like a roll of old carpet.

My instinct is to form a lynch mob and go do what must be done to the perp, who is in custody.

But then I have to stop myself (and not just because of my faith). I realize that nearly every molester was molested himself or herself. It's this vicious cycle. My anger toward this monster is tempered by mercy because probably some monster molested him when he was small and helpless.

I thought, we ought to provide some kind of special facility for children who have been molested. Ship them off to Australia or something. Not to punish them, of course, but to provide a place where they can heal and...in case they don't heal and in case they do become monsters themselves...where they will not be able to prey on others.

And, because of the way my brain works, suddenly I thought this would be an awesome science fiction story. Ship 'em off to planet Recoveron 3 for therapy and healing. If they don't respond to treatment by age 10, they're shipped to planet Physicalaboron 2, where they work the terraforming and find use for their labors.

Maybe the recovered inmates get special privileges back on Earth--but also have to wear a little chip that tracks them. They are to be embraced and loved and even given an extra boost perhaps (but no on-the-dole mentality allowed) but also watched closely--because they are, through no fault of their own, possible monsters-to-be.

I dunno, this is probably dumb and very un-P.C. But I just thought there should be a fun, SF way to explore how molestation victims do or don't become molesters themselves.

Jeff

[dmgraham]

What is the saying? "The road to hell is paved with good intentions?" I have some serious issues with grouping an entire % of the population being put away like unwanted children. God's glory and mercy would be hampered by such a move. I know men and women alike that suffered at the hands of an abuser. I would take the angle as the one to save the children. It all comes down to choice for every one of us. No matter what happened or happens to us.

[beckyminor]

I have to agree, Jeff, that the topic of the exploitation of children is one of the few that makes my blood boil. I think that if a predator attacked one of my kids, that would be one of the few scenarios where I would be provoked to violence. I pray that I would seek God's intervening sanity if such a horrible thing ever occurred.

But as for the story idea of isolating both perpetrators and their victims...it could be interesting to explore what sort of results that would have, both positive and negative. I can't help but think that the negatives might outweigh the positives, though...the system is bound to backfire somehow, since no matter how we humans design it, our flawed nature tends to build problems.

Sure, the idea is very un-PC, but PC topics rarely make for compelling fiction, I'd wager. (If I were the wagering type. )

[Jeff Gerke]

I agree with both of you that it's not a very good idea to do something like this.

But doesn't great SF sometimes arise from at least understandable, semi-logical ideas implemented and then gone awry?

I'm not saying we should send these people away. I'm saying that it would not be an unreasonable program to do so--even if it is so seriously flawed as to have been better if it had never been done.

But in fiction, we can explore ideas like this.

[beckyminor]

Yep...the flawed ideas are the ones that breed better escalation, I'm inclined to believe.

The idea of how far we can/should go to try to prevent cyclical behavior is indeed an interesting concept. One wonders, would the type of dramatic intervention you're speculating about make the difference? I'm sure the "idea spinning" would be a behavioral psychologist's mental playground.

[asinus]

The tack taken in A Clockwork Orange could work well here; Alex is a sociopathic monster, so his violent tendencies are conditioned out of him by a severe and brutal psycho-physical process. Unfortunately, all the nobler elements in his soul are inadvertently removed by the same process, and it leaves him less than human.

Joss Whedon also touched on this in the movie Firefly. A compound was discovered that removed human aggression. An entire solar system was doused with the drug unawares, but 7% of the population was immune to the effects, which left the remaining 93% vulnerable to the minority.

We are a fallen race, bad fallen, not slightly fallen. Wasn't it here that someone said that we are all of us closer to Hitler than we are to Jesus? Still, Put the pedophile or the lynch mob up against a St. Seraphim of Sarov, a Mark Buntain, or a Mother Theresa. If someone said that you could lop off both sides of the bell-curve, would you be willing to do so?

[Teskas]

I think science fiction is an ideal way of trying out ethical solutions for ethical dilemmas. The idea of exile of one group of children to protect a future generation is really rather interesting. Suppose instead of planet Physicalaboron 2, the exile were have a chip implanted to control his behavior. Maybe the temptation would be to control other aspects of behavior at the same time.

For example, suppose the "convict" were not only to have paedophiliac impulses controlled, but all impulses to anger. (I suspect a "benign" civil authority might be very tempted to do that sort of thing. And before long, extend such chip implanting to other difficult members of society.) It would pretty much cut off his ability to recognize insult or injury done to him. That sounds like a good idea maybe. But it is through the initial adrenaline rush we can become aware of external assault (verbal or otherwise). We can forgive the hurt, of course. We can wish people did not do such things to us. But even if we do turn the other cheek, we have encountered, as a result of our initial response, the broken nature of being human. Through this we understand the need for redemption. We understand humanity's need for Christ.

Would a Christian want to be so perfectly behaved that he is cut off from the reality of the fallen character of humanity? A sci-fi neuro-chip could certainly do that. That might be an interesting area for Christian science fiction to explore.

[Kristen]

I'm wondering what would happen, under Jeff's scenario, if a victim who was not shipped off to Recoveron 3 for therapy -- perhaps because the crime went unreported -- later became a perpetrator shipped to Physicalaboron 2. If the other laborers all grew up on Recoveron 3, and therefore have a common background, how would they treat a new arrival?

This is an interesting thought experiment...

[J Jack]

I think it would make a great story, but I would think a more realistic approach is a place where psychiatrists and psychologists and the like who are young and still learning go to gain real experience, not a true facility for making things better. Kinda like a job placement for them to gain knowledge then go off to a "real job" you know. Dump the unwanted and as good PR say you're helping them.

[Jeff Gerke]

You would certainly have a sympathetic protagonist in this story--a child molested by some trusted adult. Then the child is removed from the home by a futuristic Child Protective Services and sent off on his/her first rocketship ride. Imagine the odyssey of this child. The reader would be glued to the pages, I think (not least because of the superglue dispenser we'd include with every copy).

Jeff

[myrthman]

The day CPS works that quickly, Jeff, will indeed be a glorious one!

[newburydave]

Uh. . . guys and gals; what about the transformation of the New Birth, I mean the Regenration part where the "Spirit of Resurrection" comes to dwell in our hearts and make us new men and women in Christ?

I know that Sanctification can proceed at a slow pace in some people and under some discipleship programs but I've read testimonies of people who struggled with Pedophilia that were instantaneously changed by the operation of God's grace. One man was a Roman Catholic who recieved healing when he received the host in communion.

How about a more radically Christian approach? The secular society sets up an isolation system as Jeff proposed and have no, zero, zilch, nada success "curing" the pedophiles on their Assylum/Prison planet.

Then a "Fanatical" (read Bible Believing) Christian is given a special calling by The Spirit to go heal them of their oppression or possession.

(This actually happened in the 1850's. The human instrument was Steven Merrit secretary to the Methodist Bishop of New York. Merrit emptied the hospitals and asylums in New York city by working healings by the Spirit. You didn't read about that in the secular histories? Amazing! Check out the biographical book "Samuel Morris, the March of Faith")

The Christian has to smuggle himself on-planet as a technician or something, then he starts delivering people. The Psyche-Authorities don't believe it and don't want to admit it. The Christian goes underground with his deliverees to escape the Psyche-Gestapo who want to zombify them all with drugs to eliminate the "evidence". The Christian has to kidnap people to heal them . . .

Now that might be a fruitful conflict story.

[Andy]

Jan 3, 2010 17:06:22 GMT -5 newburydave said:

The Christian has to smuggle himself on-planet as a technician or something, then he starts delivering people. The Psyche-Authorities don't believe it and don't want to admit it. The Christian goes underground with his deliverees to escape the Psyche-Gestapo who want to zombify them all with drugs to eliminate the "evidence". The Christian has to kidnap people to heal them . . .

Now that might be a fruitful conflict story.

Hey, I like that take Dave! Mind if I steal some of that for a story?

[waldenwriter]

I think the idea of molestation is a hot topic these days, especially with the recent Jaycee Lee Dugard story (mainly she was kidnapped and held hostage for 18 years, but since she had children during her captivity, and they are thought to have been fathered by her captor, she may have been molested as well). Many people have discussed and/or written about it. In fact, just yesterday I was listening to the song "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by The Police, which is about a young schoolgirl who has a crush on her teacher and how that is inappropriate (since it often leads to molestation).

I'm not quite sure about your take on isolating them on a separate planet, Jeff, though I like newburydave's "intervention" approach. I'm not sure what to suggest as an alternative, as I cannot claim to be an expert in psychology. In fact, my mother (currently an MFT intern) could probably answer your question better than I could.

The isolation idea reminds me a bit of the novel The Promise by Chaim Potok. It is a sequel to his better-known novel The Chosen. In it, this boy named Michael is found to have some psychological problems and is admitted to the hospital where protagonist Reuven Malter's friend Danny Saunders is interning as a psychologist. Michael resists therapy and nearly burns down the hospital's garden pagoda (among other things) and everyone thinks he will have to be formally institutionalized. However, Danny thinks he can help Michael by using isolation (similar to how Danny's father raised him), where Michael is shut all day in a room by himself, devoid of any sensory stimulation. But since that sort of therapy has never been tried before, even Reuven is skeptical of whether it will succeed. In the end, it does succeed, breaking Michael down to the point that he is able to undergo normal therapy and treatment.

I can't think of anything else to say, just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

[torainfor]

This would be incredibly labor-intensive. Each child is a potential aggressor--and a likely victim. That requires a lot of supervision. Society and the people in it are too lazy. You're talking a lot of drugs to keep the kids safe enough (from each other and the pedophiles who sneak in as workers) to actually get to the few people doing the therapy.