Sometimes this will be for life, which is not the case for a range of other serious or even fatal crimes; this is another way society reinforces the notion that child sex offences are the ‘worst’ evil. It has occurred to me that this extreme level of commingled interest and disgust about the sexual abuse of children might have a quality that is hard to articulate. C. S. Lewis spoke of a ‘felt evil’ for things that have an exciting ‘tang’ about them, precisely because they are forbidden.
