Would you let your children play in your neighbor's yard if he just got outta jail for ONLY being accused of pedophilia, or would let them play, defending your actions to your other neighbors via, "He was only accused! Until he's convicted, STFU and let my children play inside and outside his home!"
The laws around pedophilia are messed up.
However, it is not the case, at least in Canada, that child porn is illegal because its production is thought to harm children. Maybe that would be a sensible reason for it to be illegal, but the law isn't always sensible. R. v. Sharpe made it very clear that in Canada, child porn is illegal because people think that looking at it harms the person looking (by reinforcing "cognitive distortions") - whether anyone was harmed to produce it or not. Maybe you don't "buy" that justification - I don't, myself - but it is the reason for the current law whether you and I buy it or not.
If you read R. v. Sharpe carefully, you may notice something else interesting: the Court didn't even write that they think looking at child porn stimulates people to commit crimes. They wrote that Canadian society thinks that looking at child porn stimulates people to commit crimes, and just because Canadian society thinks so - and despite the evidence the Court heard that it isn't actually true - it becomes the basis for the law.
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In comments of "What Colour are your bits?"In reference to:
R. v. SharpePedophilia in itself does not directly harm children. Acting on those feelings may harm children.
In popular usage, the word pedophilia is often incorrectly used to mean any sexual interest in children or the act of child sexual abuse.[3][6][7][8] For example, The American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary states, "Pedophilia is the act or fantasy on the part of an adult of engaging in sexual activity with a child or children."[9] This common use sometimes conflates the sexual interest in and sexual contact with pubescent or post-pubescent minors.[10][11] Researchers recommend that these imprecise uses be avoided because although people who commit child sexual abuse sometimes exhibit the disorder,[6][12][13] many child sexual abuse offenders do not meet the clinical diagnosis standards for pedophilia and these standards pertain to prepubescents.[10][14][15]
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Wikipedia article on PedophiliaI don't have any children myself, but to answer your question, I think I would consider allowing my children to play in the yard of an accused pedophile. However, I would take precautions such as making sure that the neighbor in question is never alone with the children. Children should also be informed that they should tell an adult if they are forced to do something that makes them uncomfortable. This is important because abusers are likely to be someone the child knows; rather than the "strangers" children are taught to be so wary of.
