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17 S. Afr. J. Crim. Just. 41 (2004)
Paedophilia and the South African Criminal Justice System: A Psychological Perspective

handle is hein.journals/soafcrimj17 and id is 47 raw text is: Paedophilia and the South African criminal justice system: A psychological perspective J LE ROUX* AND I MURERIWA** 'Alas! Regardless of their doom, the little victims play! No sense have they of ills to come nor care beyond today.' (Thomas Gray) ABSTRACT This article addresses the phenomenon of paedophilia as a motivation for child sexual abuse and explores the possible effect of paedophilia on the criminal liability and sentencing of the sex offender. It is indicated that various types of paedophiles can be distinguished and that perpetrators engage in paelophiliac behaviour for a variety of reasons. The impact the various types of paedophilia have on the criminal capacity and culpability of the offender is discussed specifically and the article concludes with a brief discussion of relevant reported case law. Introduction This article focuses on paedophilia as a motivating factor for child sexual abuse.1 Pivotal to the discussion is the possible effect of paedophilia on the criminal liability of the perpetrator. Child abuse is an age-old phenomenon and is presently a very real social evil. Child abuse is a broad concept and includes physical abuse,2 emotional * Blur LLB (UPE) [L (Pret), Associate Professor in the Department of Public Law, University of Pretoria. LLB LLM (Pret), Lecturer in the Department of Private Law, University of Pretoria. H Kaplan and BJ Sadock Svnopsis ofPsychiatry (1994) 673 define paedophilia as a psychiatric disorder serving as a motivating factor for a paedophilic accused of committing child sexual abuse with a prepubescent child in order to achieve a state of erotic arousal and orgasm. 2 Researchers provide various definitions for physical abuse. CN Lee Child Abu.se, A Reader and Sourcebook (1986) 48 defines physical abuse as intentional, non-accidental acts or omissions, on the part of a parent or other caretaker in interaction with a child in his care, aimed at hurting, injuring or destroying that child. D Finkelhor, RJ Gelles, GT Hotaling and MA Strauss give a similar definition in The Dark Side of Families: Current Family Violence Research (1983) 88.

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