Dan Savage coined the term "gold star pedophile" for these types of people (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=12927907). I'm really glad that we (as a society) are beginning to discuss this problem rather than sweep it under the rug by locking people up. It truly is a mental health issue, and we need to ask the question of whether or not we want to lock people up for trying to do the right thing by seeking proper treatment.
This truly is journalism at its best, as other commentators have noted. Still, I'm not sure how I feel about the subject. Especially about pedophiles who have already acted on their urges. Yes, maybe they won't do so again but once we also take the perspective of the children (which, this article does fail to do) that I think it would be better to just lock them up for life. I still can't figure out why we are locking up drug users for life but never seem to lock up pedophiles and rapists for life. I'd rather let most murderers go then pedophiles and rapists-- not serial murderers, but if they killed for a reason (economic or a crime of passion) it's probably safer to release them then a pedophile.
There are some really interesting ethical implications for sex robots and pedophilia - the argument being "Pedohpiles are only human - don't they deserve to have healthy sexuality? What if there were a way for a pedophile to act on their urges without harming anyone?"
