+xThat's a really thought provoking letter. I feel sorry for the partners and children who have to grow up with this shadow looming over their heads. They are completely innocent and i think there should be some kind of protection clause in the law for the families of offenders but i feel it would never happen because our culture still relies heavily on the shame aspect and the whole 'OMG Look what he done...TELL EVERYONE' approach. I read somewhere that in Norwich or was it Norfolk ? I always get those two confused, that the police were trialing a scheme whereby they notified suspected image downloaders by letter that they 'knew what they were up to' and to sign post them towards help and essentially if they continued the consequences would be severe. Now I don't think this would work for everyone. BUT in my opinion i think quite a large number of image download offenders would get the hint and it would most likely come as a massive shock and would be enough of a catalyst to get them to address their behaviour. Having said that though, i don't think a letter alone would be enough in the long run. I believe for the vast majority of download offenders (including myself) the focus should be more on mental health, prevention and re-education. It might be difficult for the average man on the street to comprehend but the vast majority of illegal image downloaders are more porn addicts than they are deviant evil nonces who hide in school playgrounds. I think things are changing...VERY slowly but the more regular innocent people are exposed to the actual realities and truths behind most image downloading and the impact on families etc the more likely it is that things will change for the better. I'm all about prevention and i believe a large number of offenders like myself could have benefited greatly from earlier intervention and better education. This has to be the way forward because it creates less victims (the ones in the images) and destroys less families and lives. Hi The letter trial is similar to the process of vehicles seen repeatedly cruising red light areas, I'm not sure what the success rate is as again stats ar untrustworthy as we cannot confirm the data assessed. Positively I think any process that can be managed should be assessed for benefits - unless the offence breaches set boundaries. As always, more posts phrase words surrounding "image" offences as a simpler offence than others which; in my unworthy opinion, is minimising the effect of the offence and suggesting other sex offences have a greater harm effect on its victim(s). Not to raise another discussion on that in this post but I just wish to remind us all that the nature of a contact sex offence might actually; due to the scenarios of the offence, actually not have a victim(s) created by a person, and it is the "LAW" that creates the victim(s). As always we should all come here to listen and offer support to others and not judge; especially as we will never know all the facts.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.
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