To: et.letters@telegraph.co.uk
Re: Our share of the responsibility for paedophile's crime
Date: Mon, 06 Sep 1999 

Dear Sir,
 

A young girl is murdered by a family friend who turns out to be a paedophile and we - "decent society" - are horrified (Family friend arrested after Laura found dead, 6 September 1999). Our horror blinds us to any thought that we may share some of the responsibility, but, it seems to me that we do. A man is not simply born a paedophile but is shaped by his family and the society in which he grows up. Also, there is a world of difference between having paedophilic, or any other anti-social inclinations, and actually committing a crime. We make a grave mistake when we fail to differentiate very clearly between the two. In the case in question, the offender may initially have done nothing that was really terrible, but just enough to upset the girl and for her to say, "I shall tell my mum". The offender now finds himself in an unbearable dilemma: if he lets the girl go, she will tell her mum and he will be decried with all the fury and contempt that society reserves for paedophiles; for him, as it would be for many others, a prospect worse than death. In blind panic he chose death.

It may turn out that the circumstances of this particular crime are quite different to how I have assumed them to be, but that does not invalidate the point I wish to make: that we, as a society, need to question our attitude towards this kind of crime. We need to offer help and hope, instead of
rejection and contempt, to people with such inclinations, not just for their sake, but and above all for the sake of their potential victims. If this paedophile (if that is what he is) had been encouraged to seek help before he succumbed to committing a crime and if he hadn't been driven into such a
desperate corner by society's self-righteousness and damning attitude, Laura Kane might still be alive.