Help wanted: Young pedophiles and the importance of primary prevention

Abstract

In 2014, award-winning journalist Luke Malone released a radio documentary and companion print piece about self-identified, “non-offending” pedophiles who want help managing their attraction to children. The former appeared on this American Life and the latter in Matter magazine, and they collectively reached an audience of over six-and-a-half million people. In the 2 years he spent researching the topic, Malone met Adam (a pseudonym), a then 18-year old who, for lack of other options, created an informal support group for pedophiles in their teens and early twenties. In this chapter, the author will recount his reporting experiences and discuss how a shift toward prevention could better serve this community and their potential victims. While Malone comes to the prevention of sexual violence from an unorthodox background, he has risen to prominence in the field conducting key note addresses at national and international sex offender treatment conferences and he is currently collaborating on prevention initiatives with John Hopkins University. Malone’s accounts of these young men and their commitment not to offend resonated both with academics and the public at large, bringing this taboo topic to a large national forum.