The Church of England Advisor on Child Protection has controversially urged that courts should consider not imprisoning paedophiles. Janet Hind has said that community rehabilitation orders were a much more effective way of dealing with sex offenders than jailing them.
The statement has angered a number of campaigners that are fighting for longer jail sentences for paedophiles.Hind reported in an interview with The Observer, “People can be reinforced in their behaviours by being with other offenders. Many sex offenders end up in prison with other sex offenders, which can encourage their offending thoughts and fantasies, whereas a good treatment and supervision programme in the community can be more helpful in the long run for the protection of children.”
As an official advisor to the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, Hind urged that residential centres for sex offenders should be the preferred option.
The former Wolvercote clinic in Surrey, run by the Lucy Faithful Foundation, is one such centre, and was the only facility of its kind in the whole of Europe until 2002 when it closed amid protests.
The Church Advisor on Child Protection added, “One shouldn't necessarily think that because somebody hasn't gone to prison that isn't the safe option, because obviously offenders come out of prison and, if they haven't had proper treatment, they're not going to be as safe as if they have had a good treatment programme under continuing supervision, with an eye kept on exactly what they're doing and what their thoughts are,” according to The Guardian.However, the Director of ‘Enough Abuse’, Marilyn Hawes rebuked the Church’s stance on child sex abuse. ‘Enough Abuse’ fights for better education in understanding and preventing the “grooming” and sexual abuse of children.
Hawes said, “They make a big fuss about homosexuality in the church but never paedophilia. Where is the statement from the church that supports victims of this kind on a Christian basis?”
Some clarity has been attempted to be placed on the controversy, as a Church of England spokesman later reported: “Neither Mrs Hind nor the Church of England advocates non-custodial sentences for paedophiles.
“It is up to the court to decide the appropriate sentence necessary for the proper protection of children. That might be a custodial sentence, but the court might sentence a convicted child abuser to supervision in the community with appropriate treatment.”
