"Having viewed my area, I can honestly say, they all look like scum."

I wasn't going to post to this grim thread, but...

Child molesters are scum. But people with kids to care for should never make the mistake of thinking that child molesters 'look' like scum. Child molesters can look like anyone and everyone else.

I read an interview with a convicted child molester (still sexually attracted to kids but appalled at himself) who stressed that the most important identifying factor to be concerned with is the seeking of access to children - especially private access.

While there are 'scum looking' child molesters who hang around outside schools or abduct children randomly, these are likely to be the unsuccessful or, at most, the occasionally 'lucky' ones. The skilful and successful ones (and least exposed) are likely to be those who exploit a position of trust - a position they have by default (family member, friend or appropriate position of responsibility) or manoeuvre themselves into (becoming family member, friend or appropriate position of responsibility).

Not everyone who likes children is a child molester, but all child molesters want access to children - they especially want to be alone with children. The real danger to your child might not be the ugly-looking freak on a website; it might be your brother!

As a disturbing aside to an already disturbing issue, I can relate my experience of attending a roller skating rink about a decade ago. I was astonished at the level of 'clothes on' sexual activity going on between children of pre-teen and teen age (and I'm not just talking about kissing). I discussed this with a social worker friend of mine (concerned about what to do), and she said it was absolutely typical for a large sub sector of society, and fairly common in all sectors (and that there was nothing I could usefully do).

Possibly the biggest group engaged in illegal sexual activity with children is - other children.

That would make the online registers look a bit different...