Ethical issues in the psychotherapeutic treatment of paedophiles: Whose side are you on?

Abstract

Although there has been some published literature addressing ethical issues in the chemical treatment of sex offenders (Bowden, 1991; Greenland, 1988) there has been relatively little discussion about the ethics of offering psychotherapeutic treatments of various kinds. This article addresses several ethical issues that arise in the context of the community treatment of sex offenders against children, based on the authors' experience of working in time-limited groups with child sex abusers (Mezey et al., 1991a). We would suggest that the ethical issues that arise in the treatment of paedophiles are different from, and additional to, those encountered in the treatment of other types of offender. We address these issues under a number of sub-headings.