Excerpt: Scientists who study the minds of child molesters
and rapists are getting closer to unraveling the biological, genetic and
social forces that lead to such acts. Identifying similar personality features
and shared behavioral conditions could ultimately lead to new and better
treatments. (...)
Robert Prentky, a scientist at the Justice Research Institute in
Bridgewater, Mass., and one of the organizers of the conference, said that
there are so many types of sex offenders - including pedophiles, rapists and
sexual sadists - it's been hard to develop theories that address all the
complex behaviors that drive these different abnormal acts. Scientists know
little about the development of normal sexual behavior at different stages of
life and what behavior actually poses a risk, Prentky said. (...)