child molesters

[Bring4th_Austin]

I've heard about some awesome projects they have here in Sweden, where the victim gets to meet the victimizer. The results are amazing. Most of the times, they both start crying and forgiving. The rate of criminal acts when prisoners are later released from the jail drastically decreases. They should start these projects everywhere, so that the criminals will meet the victims, and hear their story of how their act affected the victims and their lives. And the victim will meet the criminal and see that it's a person too, and learn how to forgive, and to not be afraid.

WOW!!! That's incredible! I had no idea such a spiritually advanced program was in place anywhere! Sweden sounds very progressive in many ways.

There was a story on NPR's This American Life last week about a man who was raped by a family friend when he was a child. Obviously he had very deep emotional issues from the event. He never told anyone and he carried it with him his whole life. Many years later, when he was a functioning adult, he plotted to kill the man who raped him. He came up with a very intricate scenario, bought a "crime-ready" gun, had it all planned out and was ready to go through with it. The week before he was going to kill him, his parents found an old journal of his where he talked about the rape. At that point he decided he couldn't do it because the motive was now public. Instead he decided to confront the man face to face. By meeting him and talking to him about what happened, he was able to release the anger and move on from what happened.

There's no way I could convey the emotional power the piece had through a quick synopsis. The show is free to download online if anyone is interested, I'd have to dig around a bit to find it but I would be happy to do so for anyone who wants to give it a listen. It's a great piece.