ABSTRACT
Psychiatrist can judge Charles’ act of molesting boys and Dr. Phil’s molestation of a young girl as wrong because they created victims. Psychiatrist does not know to what extent these particular victims will suffer through the remainder of their lives because of these acts. Psychiatrist refers to the doctor or judge as “an upright citizen” with even less knowledge about them. In Charles’ case, Psychiatrist can hypothesize that, because most of his playmates were boys and he had a weak father figure, he became attracted to boys; thus “working through” these issues carries no guarantee of success in reducing risk. The reasons Phil’s treatment plan differed from Charles’, sprang not from Phil’s admittedly uncooperative personality, but from the nature of the sexual offense itself: He had molested just one person and that girl was well known to him and living with him at the time.
