R v (1) GRAHAM WESTGARTH SMITH (2) MIKE JAYSON (2002)

[Andrew Brown]

On Friday, April 26, 2002, at 9:27:04 AM, Peter Mitchell wrote:

PM> Roland's "widely held belief" alleges that this particular type of image
PM> alters particular types of behaviour in certain well-defined ways, in
PM> (at least) a significant number of people a significant amount of the
PM> time.

It's the narrowly held bit of his belief that I find impressive: he
says he come across it in places that deal professionally with sex
offenders. Their views I would listen to. Common sense is often wrong,
agreed, but not when it agrees with uncommon, expert sense.

It's obviously ethically and legally impossible to set up a controlled
trial in which potential paedophiles are or are not exposed to this
kind of material and then measure how many of them go on to offend. On
the other hand, I don't see any virtue, here, in refusing to have and
act on an informed opinion just because the matter can't be settled by
a clinical trial.


 -- 
 Andrew                            mailto:alloneword@dial.pipex.com