The mental health field is failing those who need it the most. Instead of prioritizing the recovery and justice of victims, an alarming amount of resources are diverted toward rehabilitating pedophiles. This grotesque misallocation of funding, research, and care places undue emphasis on preventing offenders from acting on their impulses while largely ignoring the profound suffering of the survivors. This systemic failure is not only unethical but a betrayal of justice and morality. Society must demand a realignment of priorities, ensuring that the innocent receive the help they deserve before any consideration is given to those who have inflicted harm.

The Prioritization of Pedophile Rehabilitation

Despite the heinous nature of their crimes, pedophiles are increasingly receiving specialized treatment designed to curb their behaviors. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), chemical castration, and risk assessment programs are employed in an effort to prevent reoffending. While crime prevention is a necessary pursuit, these initiatives should never take precedence over addressing the profound and lasting trauma endured by victims.

Governments and mental health institutions have poured considerable financial and research resources into understanding the neurological and psychological factors that contribute to pedophilic behavior. This approach, though framed as a preventative measure, effectively shifts focus away from the very real and immediate needs of the victims. The underlying message is clear: society is more concerned with managing criminals than healing those they have irreparably harmed. This is unacceptable.

“As a society, we have inverted. Evil is good and good is evil. People in general do not want to hear about or see the evil that is perpetrated against children because they can’t handle the truth, it makes them uncomfortable. So they pour money into “treating pedophiles” as a means to appease the public and keep them from knowing the hard truth of who and what these animals are and what they have done.” - Todd Garlington, LCDC, LPC-A

The Overlooked Plight of the Victims

Childhood sexual abuse is not an isolated incident, it is a lifelong sentence for the victims. Survivors face an uphill battle against post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, substance abuse, self-harm, and suicidal ideation. These individuals require extensive, long-term mental health care to reclaim any semblance of normalcy in their lives. Yet, the very institutions meant to support them consistently fail to do so.

Funding for trauma recovery programs remains woefully inadequate. Survivors struggle to access therapy, support groups, and medical assistance due to financial barriers, a lack of available providers, and societal stigma. Meanwhile, those who perpetrate these horrific crimes often receive a level of attention and structured intervention that victims could only dream of. This is an unforgivable oversight that demands immediate correction.

"Entire industries are built on numbing what we feel; Marijuana, Alcohol, Beer, and Big Pharma. They have powerful lobbyists, while victims have none, at least not yet. My hope, one that SCSA is actively realizing, is that more victims will unite and make our voices so loud that those in power will have no choice but to listen. The funds wasted on pedophile rehabilitation must be redirected to help the children and adults who have paid the ultimate price. It has been said before, and I will say it again: light is the best disinfectant!” - Todd Garlington, LCDC, LPC-A

The Ethical and Moral Dilemma

This egregious imbalance raises unavoidable ethical and moral questions. Society has a fundamental duty to protect and support its most vulnerable members. Yet, in its current state, the mental health system does the opposite; it prioritizes those who have inflicted harm over those who have suffered it. While rehabilitation programs may aim to prevent future offenses, they do nothing to rectify the past. The scars left on survivors are ignored, their voices drowned out by a system more interested in understanding predators than aiding their victims.

Furthermore, the growing normalization of pedophile rehabilitation programs is deeply concerning. By framing offenders as victims of their own compulsions, we risk eroding accountability. The individuals who commit these crimes are not mindless slaves to their impulses; they make conscious choices that devastate lives. It is unacceptable to provide them with structured care while leaving the true victims to fend for themselves.

The Urgent Need for Reform

This disgraceful status quo cannot be allowed to continue. The following urgent reforms must be enacted to correct this injustice:

1. Mandatory Funding for Victim Support Services: Governments and mental health institutions must reallocate significant portions of their budgets toward comprehensive trauma recovery programs, including therapy, medical care, and legal assistance for survivors.

2. Targeted Research on Survivor Recovery: Instead of disproportionately studying the psychology of offenders, more research must be conducted on effective therapeutic interventions for survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Evidence-based treatments must be widely available and accessible.

3. Legislative Reforms: Policies must be enacted to ensure that victim services receive priority funding. Any initiative that directs resources toward offender rehabilitation must never come at the expense of survivor support programs.

4. Public Awareness and Advocacy: Society must be educated on the lifelong impact of sexual abuse on victims. Survivors need advocacy, visibility, and a voice that demands justice over misplaced compassion for offenders.

5. Holding Perpetrators Fully Accountable: Rehabilitation should never overshadow accountability. The justice system must impose strict legal consequences on offenders and ensure that victim support initiatives always take precedence over efforts to understand pedophilia as a psychological condition for which there is no current cure.

In Conclusion

The current mental health landscape is a disgrace. The tragic disparity in resource allocation is not just an oversight, it is a moral failure. Pedophile rehabilitation is prioritized while victims are left to navigate their trauma alone. This is a fundamental injustice that must be corrected immediately.

Society must demand a shift in priorities. Prioritizing and healing those who have suffered must always come before aiding those who have caused suffering. The mental health community has an ethical obligation to support the innocent before even considering the rehabilitation of the guilty. Until that shift occurs, the system remains complicit in the continued neglect and suffering of the victims and survivors.

When I speak about the need for training in the mental health community, I am specifically referring to “trauma-informed” therapists, many of whom, despite their good and greatest intentions, are not truly trauma-informed. Some make shockingly offensive remarks, perhaps believing they are helping, but how can they truly help if they lack proper training? Understanding what therapies are effective for different survivors who are all individual in nature, yet share the same maladies and symptoms of childhood sex abuse, recognizing their potential downfalls and even acts of suicide, and applying this knowledge with precision is not just important, it is absolutely critical in providing real, meaningful support to the victims and survivors.

"All because they never listened to the victims and survivors of childhood sex abuse in the first place. And in some cases, dismissed them entirely, erasing their voices as if their suffering was an inconvenience rather than a moral imperative to solve and treat." - Richard Windmann, Ph.D.

Justice and healing demands action. Now.

According to Gospel, Matthew 18:6:

"But whoever shall cause one of these little ones who believe in Me, to sin, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

About the Author: Luke Wiersma was sexually abused by an adult from the ages of sixteen to eighteen, two to three times a week, sometimes more. His abuser would drugged him, held him down, and raped him. Since 2021, when he shared his story for the very first time, he became a fierce Advocate for children and survivors. One of his goals is to change the laws to create harsher punishments for sex offenders, as well as protect the children of today. Luke can be reached at [email protected].

The free reprint, distribution, dissemination, promulgation and/or sharing of this article, in its whole, by anyone, is not only allowed, but is encouraged.