Friday, 2 November 2007
Gender and Paedophilia
The news arrived today of Claire Lyte's light sentence - she was found guilty of four accounts of sexual child-abuse, and of lying to a court. How long did she get in the slammer? Three years. Now, by no means do I wish to advocate the acts committed by pederasts worldwide, quite the opposite, in fact. Why is it that this woman receives a three year sentence, when a similar case involving a man and a thirteen year-old boy would receive a much more stringent sentence? Is this an attempt to appease the overall public discontent? Surely theses examples should be brought into line. You may recall some time ago the story of a schoolteacher, aged 37, having sexual relations with a boy in her class, aged 15. Whether or not the boy was quoted as saying, "I was a bit of a legend", does not detract from the worrying conclusion: she got a 14 month suspended jail sentence. Statistics have shown that, more often than not, paedophiles will re-offend. Statistics have also shown that re-offence seldom occurs after a four year stint in jail. And so, I propose a minimum sentence of four years for acts of child-molestation et al. Of course, this may impose even greater pressure on her majesty's bulging prison service as it stands, but my case remains.