Child Pornography Dealer: Punishing the Crime and Treating While Treating Their Mind

International child pornography, sexual exploitation of minor and sexual abuse of children are criminal offense punishable by law. Individuals involved in these heinous crimes are subject to heavy fines, penalties and life in person. But, are these perverted perpetrator more than criminals behind a mass money enterprise? Shouldn’t they be mandated to psychiatric evaluations, treatment and follow up?

Freed Woolum, a 58 year old man from Lexington, VA and Daniel Cox, a 54 year old man from Houston, TX were found guilty of their respective roles in a child pornography enterprise on Wednesday July 21, 2010. The enterprise included members of a social networking sites with tight restrictions that shared illicit photos of young boys, including some infants, who were sodomized, subject to bondage and sexually abused.

Woolum will face a minimum 20 year to life sentence behind bars with a possibility of a lifetime supervised release. Cox faces a 5-20 year sentence with a possibility of lifetime supervised released. One should immediately question why these individuals would be up for release and not made to serve a full life sentence. Moreover, the delinquent duo may also be ordered to pay a $250,000.00 fine.

Interestingly, their sentence does not include mandated psychological evaluation, visits with a therapist or other services mental health treatment. Ideally, a prison system aims to rehabilitate offenders. However, neither the sentence for Cox nor Wollum includes a rehabilitation plan for their obvious psychological disturbance. The question therein is: Where do the law and psychology integrate to form a comprehensive rehabilitation plan for criminals?

Crimes of a sexual nature posses a unique pathology that make them unique from other violent crimes. Often, perpetrators of sex crimes (i.e., Jeffrey Dahmer and Teddy Bundy) endured painful childhood experiences that went untreated. These notorious serial killers were once victims themselves. Due to the heinous nature of their crimes, one more readily identifies each as a criminal as opposed to victims that needed in depth care. Dahmer and Bundy may have been treated for psychosis but was the treatment adequate and equal to treatment that a civilian would receive? Or were services provided for them that were meant to merely punish a criminal?

Passing laws and imprisoning child sex traffickers is a difficult task. Treating these individuals for their mental, social and emotion disconnects is potentially more daunting. One must see pas the criminality of these individuals through to the deprivation that has spurred the criminal behavior. At that point,steps toward their true rehabilitation will be made. Treating a problem and pushing crime can work in tandem and field experts must devise these mechanism. Locking away a problem and pitching the key has never resolved core issues of the mind. Diagnosing solely symptomatically will not make the headway necessary to underscore the real psycho-pathological motives that fuel such a grotesque and horrific enterprise.