It's a scary thought to know that a pedophile is moving into your neighborhood. Parents become suspicious and worried because they would be devastated if anything happened to their child. They want to know everything about the pedophile, such as his past convictions. The person wonders how an individual could one day commit such sexual acts on a child, knowing full well the outcome of their choice. Their immediate assumption is that the pedophile is an insignificant human being, unworthy of acceptance and forgiveness. But what exactly is going on in the pedophile's brain and why are they making these choices? And what exactly are the consequences of their actions for them and their victims? Pedophilia is a dangerous desire for the person and the child. What is pedophilia? Paraphilias and Sexual Perversion With the live broadcasts of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, we think we automatically know as much as possible about pedophiles and sex offenders. In almost every episode, they discuss psychological thought processes, personal history, and even reasoning. But that doesn't give us the full picture of what pedophilia is, and Dr. George Haung doesn't always know all the answers. To truly understand the characteristics of a pedophile, one must understand what that person's sexual desires are. Alan Goldman quotes: “Sexual desire is the desire for contact with another person's body and the pleasure that contact provides; sexual activity is an activity that tends to satisfy the desire of the agent” (Soble, 2008). So what exactly does Alan mean by this? The desire for some kind of pleasurable contact, not necessarily sexual, is at the root of our sexual desires. And then there are these desires to feel, or touch the middle of the paper......ciation. Finkelhor, D. (1981). Children victims of sexual violence. New York: Free Press. Handbook of social work in child and adolescent sexual abuse (1 ed.). (2008). New York: Haworth Press. Hershkowitz, I., Lamb, M., and Horowitz, D. (2007). Victimization of children with disabilities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77(4), 629-635. doi:10.1037/0002-9432.77.4.629.Merriam-Webster. (2003). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition (book only) (11th revised edition). Springfield: Merriam-Webster. Soble, A. (2008). The Philosophy of Sex and Love: An Introduction (Paragon Problems in Philosophy) (2 revised ed.). New York: Paragon House Publishers. National Center for Victims of Crime – Library/Document Viewer. (nd). The National Center for Victims of Crime - Home. Retrieved April 12, 2010 from http://ncvc.org/ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&Doc