Trailer park entirely inhabited by paedophiles and sex offenders | 60 Minutes Australia

there may be no uglier word in the English language than pedophile it conjures up thoughts we never want to have of monsters preying on innocent children as reviled as they are though pedophiles lurk in greater numbers than most of us know and ignoring they exist won't cut it anymore in America I've just visited one of the most confronting places I've ever been a trailer park that's entirely inhabited by pedophiles and other sex offenders who've served their prison sentences and have nowhere else to live this Village of the Damned is set up for our protection and theirs but it's also testing a new controversial theory and the results might surprise you [Music] st. Petersburg on Florida's west coast is a postcard perfect playground except for one thing not far from these beaches hiding in plain sight is a trailer park full of registered sex offenders the 120 residents here are convicted rapists child sex abusers and addicts of child pornography so every one of the people here are the neighbors that no one else really wants to have absolutely they're not in my backyard people the village of a damned I refer to us as the societal lepers of the 21st century showing me around this godforsaken underworld is build fury a convicted child molester he's lived here for a decade and is surprisingly open about what makes someone like him commit the most deplorable acts against children I did what I did III know why I did it I know how I did it I know how I went about it it was a setup predatorial action I was a predator I did that but as sickening as this place is it could hold the key to answering one of the biggest questions of our time how do we stop pedophiles from offending in the first place we'll come out here with me teddy bear pervert Park houses one of the largest concentrations of sex offenders in the United States I'm not innocent of having the images you did view it and I did view it yeah it was set up ten years ago as a solution to Florida's strict probation laws which forbid convicted paedophiles from living within 300 meters of kids over the years it's become a safe haven for society's most hated human beings [Music] there's not really any way to sugarcoat this place it's frankly not a great spot to live the conditions here are very cramped everyone has a dark sinister history and the atmosphere is well it's unpleasant that said Florida Police say it works now you'd think having such a concentration of sex offenders in one place would be a recipe for disaster but law officers claim for them it centralizes the potential problems it also helps them to track down offenders after they leave prison and for the residents here it creates a kind of self-regulation [Music] sex offenders no sex offenders better than anybody because we are each other so you call each other out absolutely what's that like being labeled a sex predator um I don't know it's kind of surreal you know there's just it's just you never thought of yourself as one of those um I don't know no I don't think so I mean it but if you think about it what is the predator to do it it cuts the weak and the young out of the pack and it in a praise okay that's what I did so it fits I I think it does I absolutely think it does you'd be hard-pressed finding a more candid or repentant child molester than bill fury what I did was wrong but you liked it so you've owned that oh absolutely I inflicted harm on other human beings that I have no right to inflict can you describe to me what did you do well I have this girlfriend with a 12 year old daughter and I was at her house one night while she was working bottom line is I offended sexually against women somebody defenseless somebody owned somebody that didn't deserve it and she was 12 or 13 12 or 13 obviously too young to be exposed to what I exposed her to bill spent almost 20 years behind bars and underwent intense therapy but he tells me he doesn't think he's been cured the 56 year old says the forbidden desires he acted on all those years ago are still present I don't think it'll ever go away you know you just learn how to manage it how to control it how to not feed it so that feeling is still there with you to desire absolutely absolutely [Music] research varies but even on the lowest estimates there are millions of pedophiles worldwide they walk among us every day same County pedophiles do you think you've seen over the years Wow I'd be surprised if I haven't broken a thousand dr. James Kanter is a neuroscientist specializing in a typical sexualities when it comes to pedophilia he's reached important but uncomfortable conclusions including why pedophiles are attracted to children in the first place [Music] all the evidence suggests that pedophilia begins in the womb a person does not pick it and despite every kind of treatment that has been attempted over a century nothing has been shown to be able to change these people from pedophiles into non pedophiles by exploring the brains of convicted paedophiles using MRI scans dr. Kanter discovered a dramatic cross wiring in the connective tissue his controversial research found that pedophiles are victims of nature it's not that these areas of the brain are different in the pedophiles it's that the network that they're supposed to form isn't connected properly so it's accidentally identifying things in the environment that should evoke a parental nurturing instinct but instead it's provoking a sexual and erotic instinct from all the sides from all your sides did it answer the question are pedophiles born or made interestingly the the science in general says that pedophiles appear to be born not made because that's a big call isn't it is a big call because some people will see that as almost making an excuse for pedophilia Oh many people will make many different interpretations but the place to start any kind of policy is this is biological and it's not going to change dr. Kanter argues that means rather than condemn people born with something they can't control we need to start helping them before they offend and incredibly he says many pedophiles actually don't want to act on their urges pedophilia is not a synonym for child molestation which is how most people think pedophilia is the genuine underlying unchanging sexual interest in children but it's not the same thing no child molestation is the actual behavior that harms a child then you're splitting stores they're a little bit aren't you no I'm saying that the definition of pedophilia is the attraction but it doesn't mean they they're going to do it exactly a pedophile there exists a group for example called the virtuous pedophiles these people recognize that they're sexually interested in children have never touched one and they essentially swear themselves to a life of celibacy how is it possible for them to suppress that sexual urge for their entire lifetime I can't imagine that kind of a curse and we as a society the only thing we can do the thing that would most protect our children is to help them do that coming up I'll go to sexual attractions chill but this man says he's not a danger wolf we do know the difference between washing roll so can he be trusted have you ever been tempted I've been sent to just that's next on 60 minutes stories of child sexual abuse dominate nightly news volunteers two brothers aged 8 and 11 inside one of the public toilets pedophiles it seems are all around us alleged ringleaders of a child stealing on a leak 90% of sex offenders live undetected in the community but research has now discovered not all of them are molesting children and remarkably there is such a thing as a good pedophile this whole notion of a non offending pedophile alt seems frankly a bit hard to believe but we're about to meet a man here in Melbourne who calls himself exactly that a virtuous pedophile now for obvious reasons relating to his personal safety he doesn't want to disclose his identity so we've agreed to meet him at a neutral location in a city hotel so he can tell us all about his tortured existence Kiera as he's known online works in tech and spends his free time watching soccer and cricket he sounds like any other ordinary bloke but that all changes the moment he sits down I've got a sexual attraction to children are you uncomfortable being labeled a pedophile it's a it's a difficult word but that is technically true what age for a sexual partner would you find attractive in a purely physical sense I would say seven years old Kiera says he first became aware of his disturbing attraction to little boys when he was a teenager when I was around about 15 I was going through stall I was looking at boys I was finding them sexually attractive but as I was growing older I wasn't attracted to boys my own age you know post puberty I was more attracted to the two younger ones when that realization dawned upon you and then you bring the word pedophile in there must have been very confusing it was you associate with monsters you know and it's very very very hard then to realize that hang on then I'm not a monster I've got a more LZ I could never to bring myself to do something like that but then you think you've you've got this dark secret inside you as well and you think but Kira isn't aligned online there's a hidden population of people just like him thousands of self-confessed pedophiles who meet and chat often anonymously in forums you know I went through that period of you know of self-hatred you know trying to change myself you know you Todd Nickerson is one of these so-called virtuous pedophiles based in a small town in Tennessee's he outed himself publicly in 2015 to shed light on this secret underworld I feel you know a great burden has been lifted off of me because like you know now people take me at face value they know what I'm about and the term virtuous pedophiles sounds like an oxymoron but men like Todd and Kira claim even though they're attracted to children they've never acted on their sexual urges are you all committed along those lines I would say mostly my feeling can be better I don't trust that all of them are doing exactly what they say they are all the time and I am a little bit cynical when it comes to that I find it hard to marry a post those two terms non-offending and and pedophile that's fair enough look it's but you have to realize we are thinking people as well have you ever been tempted with a child I wouldn't do that have you ever been tempted I've been to introduce have you ever carried it out ever carried that through no I never have not once not once but that behavior is on a Razors Edge is it not it can be [Music] the difference between virtuous pedophiles and the offenders living here at pervert Park in Florida is these men chose to prey on the innocent it's only now after countless lives have been destroyed the child molesters like Bill fury are learning to control their sickening designs I really did want to do the work I really did want to learn what was making me tick what was making me be who I was and it wasn't an accident it wasn't just an opportunity I was a predator I did that it's the kind of unflinching self-reflection that's encouraged and on-site group therapy sessions what is it that instigates a person to act out in a sexual way inside this room offenders talk about what they did and how they can stop themselves from doing it again so then the question becomes well what do we do to not have that boundary crossed again still it would be naive to think that all pedophiles can be helped 79 year-old bobby was convicted for the possession of child pornography but the grandfather remains unrepentant I never seen anything like this before being a norm and looking at this computer you know I don't see there's nothing wrong with looking but you know for someone looks here I don't see anything wrong about looking I do there is for someone like you to just look there has to be someone else who's doing you know or being forced to do it nothing nothing but so ever that's the problem with people like you who just looked they seen it I enjoyed it so you deserve to be a registered sex offender right I enjoyed it you know I don't see anything wrong with it even dr. James can't all who advocates for non-offending pedophiles admits there are certain types of sex offenders who should never be released from prison what sort of percentage of pedophiles are psychopathic probably a handful of a percent by other worst of the worst oh absolutely they are the people where society needs to protect itself and the only way to for society to protect himself against a genuine dangerous psychopath is to remove the person from society but for the most part dr. canter says we need to rethink the way we deal with pedophilia because right now not enough is being done to ensure non-offending pedophiles stay that way the only situation that would change things is if we make it easier for them to come in that would give us contact with B files that we don't have contact with now but if we're going to treat them like criminals they will stay underground and work just back to where we started look as the expert I can hear your confidence but as a parent mm-hmm I think that's a huge leap of faith yes it is but this is not the first time Sciences run into this there are a lot of things that we know that are uncomfortable but that doesn't make them wrong so how do we help our children by helping you what we do need to do is we need to start getting the message out that if you do have these feelings you need to be reaching out and as a society we need to be providing a safe place it's not about normalizing pedophilia or either it's about just understanding that you are the way you are are you convinced that you were made this way I don't believe there's a way I can change it if someone were to offer me a magic pill saying take this pill you'll no longer be a beautiful you'll be a trick to adults everything be fine I'll take the pill but there is no pill like that so the best thing I can do is just accept Who I am and you know make the best of their situation [Music] supporting instead of ostracizing pedophiles is a bold idea but even if it works the thought of doing anything to help the most despised human beings in society doesn't sit well but if we believe the science then right now there are hundreds of teenagers around the world coming to the realization that they're attracted to children too and helping them might be the only option we have I know before I got arrested there were many many times when I wish there was some help I knew there was something wrong with me but you know if I go into a doctor and I say hey look I'm thinking about molesting little girls by law he has to report me by law I got to get locked up so the only way I can get any help you out hurts somebody and I'm not blaming the system for what I did don't get me wrong but wouldn't it be awesome if you could just go get some help before you let it affect another human being you think other non offending pedophiles need to put their hand up absolutely I mean just if nothing else take my life as an example I'm 56 years old for the rest of my life no matter what I do no matter where I go I'm gonna be that sexual predator I'm gonna be the face of that monster you don't want that hello I'm William Bartlett thanks for watching so keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 Minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 5,227,080

Rating: 4.4495955 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Karl Stefanovic, Ray Martin, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Peter Harvey, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, creepy, Florida, paedophiles, sex offenders, criminal, Palace Mobile Home Park, neuroscientist Doctor James Cantor, virtuous paedophile

Id: OiquubYVbWQ

Length: 21min 6sec (1266 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 03 2019