The predominant view expressed here seems that the issue has been overblown by media hysteria and is not really very important.

The reality is that there is a lot of child abuse, both physical and sexual, out there. Despite what some seem to think, there is not a lot of money for treatment of victims, there are few resources for intervention, and there is little money for, and little interest in prevention.

The interest level goes down even lower when the issue is treating offenders--GUEST, 9:32 am
demonstrates the ambivalence of society well by saying "surely any mature sane adult accepts by default that paedophiles are sick and need treatment..[and serious punishment when convicted]"--

And GUEST 7:27pm, who, seems to be an advocate for convicted offenders, is frustrated and angry because offenders who have been convicted and served their time are permanently branded as"Sexual Predators" by the courts in order to placate a society that has become hysterical over the issue.

(I wish that he would re-read what I had said carefully--the high recidivism rate that I mentioned was specifically for serial child sexual predators--the individuals who victimize large numbers of children over time--yes, they are a small percentage of the individuals who are convicted of sexual offenses, but over time, they seem to have a strong tendency to continue their behaviors--and yes, not all sexual offenders are child predators, and yes, the sexual offenders who are not child predators have a fairly low rate of recidivism, at least for sexual crimes, though many are returned to prison for parole violations)--