[Base]
[Index]
Conclusions
Without doubt, the child victim's own behaviour often plays a
[page 131] considerable part in initiating and maintaining a
pedophiliac crime. However, when we speak about victimological aspects
in pedophiliac acts of children who are "precipitating" or
"participating", it is important to bear in mind that they do not
necessarily always view the pedophiliac acts in the same sexual way as
the adults (see Plummer - Chapter 8 of this volume). These acts can
often seem to them something exciting, an expression of their
stimulus-seeking behaviour, or a way to establish relationships with
adults.
Further investigations will be required to clarify several
important points, especially in the following respects:
- To gain a clear picture of the personality of the children who
initiate the pedophiliac crimes. Are there many hyperactive (MBD)
children, or to be more precise, children with attention deficit
disorders (with or without hyperactivity)? (DSM-III (American
Psychiatric Association, 1980)). This is important because hyperactive
children, especially, are often thought to be "stimulus-seekers". In
incest crimes, especially, it is important to obtain a picture of the
girl's personality. Is the interest that these girls manifest in their
fathers already especially strong in the oedipal phase? How many of
the girls are the kind of children who will later develop into persons
with a hysterical personality? (Rosenfeld, 1979).
- To obtain more exact information concerning the kind of
personality disorders found among the pedophiliac offenders in those
crimes that are precipitated by the child's own behaviour. It is
important to discover exactly how rare it is for a person with an
antisocial personality (with violent crimes) to be guilty of a crime
of this kind. What is the role of the explosive or passive-aggressive
personality? Especially in incest cases it is important to clarify the
part of these last two personalities. (Men with antisocial
personalities who are violent are usually not married but those who
have explosive or passive-aggressive personalities are.)
In incest crimes, the roots of the situation in which a girl
assumes the mother-role in a family frequently seems to lie in the
behaviour of the mother herself. A primary aim of the investigation
should therefore be to discover whether, and to what extent, the
mother's behaviour is due to depression of some kind, and to the
circumstances giving rise to it.
Investigations along the above lines would be an important
contribution [page 132] towards preventing these crimes. For instance,
if there are children who have an attention deficit disorder there are
already good opportunities to do much with this, thereby controlling
pedophiliac crimes more effectively.