Some have asked me whether I believe a predator pedophile is ever sincere in sex offender treatment. Prior to working with thousands of sexual predators for 11+ yrs in prison, I would have been inclined to assume that the answer would have been, “Yes.” However, I now know much differently. And, a taped interview with the recently charged pedophile priest, St. Louis Archbishop, Robert Carlson, has now become a favorite teaching tool that I have integrated into my trainings about the nature and motives of sexual predators. As such, I thought I would offer additional insight, beyond what this brief interview reveals, into what this type of child predator is like in sex offender treatment. Despite what the “reformed” pedophile will tell the public or other church members upon his release from prison, the reality is that I have yet to meet a truly changed pedophile, even after they have received “treatment.”

So, what are they like, behind the scenes, as they “meaningfully” participate in sex offender treatment? Here is how things typically go in terms of the back-and-forth between the pedophile and the sex offender therapist who is intent upon getting at the heart of the matter. The following will often take place over days, even months, as the pedophile is amazingly adept at drawing things out to where the pace become so painful that the interviewer is tempted to pull his own hair out… and that is exactly the tactic of the pedophile during the interview process. He intends for the process to be a war of attrition, counting on the interviewer or treatment provider to simply get so tired of having to drag out every piece of information, that the treatment provider will simply get fed up and move on to the next group member. And, since the sophisticated pedophile has mastered the art of playing naive, they can make the case that they are truly “trying” to participate in treatment to the best of their ability.

So, after watching such a brief display of what the pedophile is like when it comes to being willing to “come clean,” here is how it typically goes in treatment.

THE PREDICTABLE TACTICS USED BY INCARCERATED PEDOPHILES IN SEX OFFENDER TREATMENT

As clearly seen in the video interview of St. Louis Archbishop, Robert Calson, the pedophile will inevitably use this same line… “I don’t really know… I can’t recall.” The failure to recollect is the favorite tactic used by the sophisticated pedophile to initially deflect all scrutiny, and is the most widely used method of deflection by all white-collar psychopaths, once they are clearly caught “red-handed.” Notice how many times he says that during this brief clip. Reportedly, he said that he could not recall a total of 193 times throughout the interview

Once the first level of deflection has run its course, when enough evidence is presented and they know they are checkmated, the pedophile will inevitably start the process of intellectual sparring, which will run a wide gamut, and will entail all sorts of efforts at deflecting, distracting, and obfuscating, much like a fish darting to and fro under the water once he finds himself on the end of a fisherman’s reel. His only objective is to ensure that he cannot be pinned for having been purposeful, willful, methodical, strategic, calculating, intentional, and cunning in his grooming and perpetration of children, for he knows then that his true inner world will be revealed, one of a dark, diabolical, sexually perverted, depraved, violent porn-saturated, lust-filled, sexually dark and twisted, malevolent, cunning predator, intent upon sexually defrauding, emotionally traumatizing, and stealing the innocence of children. As such, he will start down a very predictable and consistent path of resistance, and will employ fairly predictable tactics as he is increasing cornered, which usually involves following steps:

(1) Denying his crimes, minimizing the numbers of victims (which will ALWAYS be into double-digits, but more likely hundreds, as he will inevitably take a plea deal, so as to avoid a jury trial and going to prison for 25–50 yrs), inevitably saying that he has NO idea how so much child porn was found on his phone and computer, and asserting that he was never into pornography. When proof to the contrary forces him to slowly admit to some pieces of the police report… when it is finally read out loud to the group, he will….

(2) Focus on the only loophole he can find… the definition of "Consent." When that doesn’t persuade the therapist that the pedophile is intellectually deficient, he will…

(3) Talk about his low self-esteem. When that doesn’t buy him sympathy, he will…

(4) Attempt to assert he was sexually abused as a child, and somehow was unconsciously being driven to work out his own abuse on kids the same age as he was during his alleged abuse. When the lie of “Hurt-people hurt people” is dispelled by the truth that only “Selfish people hurt people”, he will …

(5) Look at you and say that you are actually a dangerous person to be in the field of psychology, since you are so closed-minded, and are not interested in helping people get to the roots of why they offend, and to help them begin the healing process. When his attempt to deflect falls flat, he will…

(6) Brazenly assert, “ You are actually the wolf in sheep's clothing, since you purport to believe the Bible, yet are preaching hatred, instead of forgiveness and restoration.” When his attempts at slander and character assassination do not deter additional scrutiny and hard questions, he will finally start to reveal his true nature… that of a vicious predator, who will not be deterred or outed by a simpleton therapist who attempts to expose him and prevent him from getting out of prison as soon as possible, so the can hunt again, utilizing newly discovered techniques he has gleaned from the other more skilled incarcerated pedophiles. Once he knows you are “on to his game,” and that you actually intend to make him own up to what he has done, he will…

(7) Declare, (Reader, this is not an exaggeration) “I can't work with you, since your bias, personality disorder, homophobia, prejudicial mindset, ignorance, and unprofessional disposition is counter-therapeutic, and is actually making me worse, and causing me to regress in my therapy, and you are setting me up to reoffend. So, for the sake of public safety and for the sake of all those who might be abused by your ideologically-driven hatred toward those offenders who have problems, have made mistakes in their lives, and are in need of help, you need to have grievances and lawsuits filed against you, to ensure you never can harm anyone else again. So, for the sake of all pedophiles in need of “real” treatment, you need to be fired, and lose your professional license, because you are a hate-filled person, who does serious damage to people who are helpless, without the ability to have a say, and must ultimately allow themselves to either be emotionally and mentally raped by a bigoted and biased ‘professional,’ which may set them back emotionally, and possibly create such anger inside the pedophile that they may not be able to do anything other than go back out and rape, out of the hurt and anger caused by such unprofessional conduct.”

That is how sex offender therapy often goes with the most sophisticated of heinous pedophiles. As a result of their tactics, the prison administration usually capitulates to their grievances and complaints (which oftentimes includes the enlistment of family members, who will call political officials for support, to put pressure on the State Secretary of Corrections to do something about this rogue sex offender treatment specialist), and places the pedophile in another sex offender group that is more to his liking, where he feels he will receive more objective support and treatment. And, after knowing that he will be assured of passing through sex offender treatment, he writes complementary letters to the prison administration about the new treatment provider, ensuring he successfully manipulates the authority figures into sanctioning his uninterrupted progress toward “successfully completing” sex offender treatment, making him eligible for the earliest possible release from prison on parole.

So, the next time a “recovered” pedophile approaches you about getting involved in the life of your family/church/neighborhood, or about how you can trust him, since he “successfully completed” sex offender treatment while in prison, you can ask him to share with you what he gained from such meaningful, life-changing treatment. Then, disregard anything he tells you.

Footnotes