never would have gone down that road. But now they have that label that will be with them for life.” When asked if she’s seen clients change, she shares, “Absolutely; most of them. For many, it's their first offense, certainly first sex offense. And once they have done their time and learned better and had therapy, they’d never go back to it; there are things they just did not know.” For instance, many clients weren’t aware of the law. Regarding group sex, Dr. Harris explains that even though a situation may be consensual, but one person in the group gets out of hand, and police get involved, all parties will be arrested under the category of gang rape, even if the woman says the others were not a problem. Regarding minors, even if two people are in love, but one is underage, that is illegal too and considered statutory rape. But what about the repeat offenders?
“ For the very troubled ones, the illness was prior to puberty. Children were exposed to inappropriate sexual behavior or assaulted themselves sexually, so they grow up with a warped sense of who they are and what life is supposed to be.” So, what can we, as a society, do to help? “ We have to teach early. We have to get the parents and educators to be more watchful. I think it would not hurt to have sex education, sex offender classes, or sex offender theories taught in HS. To have some kind of training where parents are part of the process. Assemblies with talks and lectures—that would be helpful.”
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