Rehabilitation of offenders, and this is the biggy because unless some form of treatment/counselling whatever is available the reoffending rate is very high and he will be back on the streets in possibly less than 2 years.
The biggy indeed. In his case even the best treatment is unlikely to make any lasting difference. In all of his dealings with others, in every single encounter he has, duplicity reigns supreme. He learns to play the game, tell others what they want to hear, but he goes and does his own thing at the end of the day, managing to present only the veneer until the inevitable train wreck. He is incapable of having an adult relationship with anyone, only aping maturity. And that's why he prefers to associate with the underaged. In my opinion his behaviour is learned, but there may be some genetic or other physical reason for it. Who knows? It's likely even experts would disagree on him.
If I were to lay odds on him leading anything like a decent life after release, they would be very short indeed.
Unfortunately this is the case for many people like him. so the question is: what do you do with them? The chap who said he'd kill them personally - wonderful. Eliminates at least one of 'em, but what does your family do with you in gaol?
Hang em? Sure. For what though? How serious does the offence have to be? As far as I know he didn't touch anybody so should the hanging offence be expanded to include anyone with those sorts of images on their computer? What about someone who's been framed or downloaded one accidentally while he was surfing looking for 'normal' porn? Kill him too?
It's one of the big reasons we don't have the death penalty anymore. Prevention would be the best. IMO Craig's predilection could have been spotted at a fairly early age. What to do with him at that point I really don't know. Shrinks of some description, I suppose. But punishment and pillory, as much fun as they may be, don't seem to be making anyone any safer. Or maybe they are. maybe there would be a lot more of this without. I doubt it though.
The Americans have a provision in law that allows them to institutionalize someone they regard as being ill in this way for as long as they like (some Missouri vs someone or another ruling) It might be the only other way for some of these people.
At the very least, there's more awareness these days. In the past, there was only a vague awareness that these characters existed and the 'don't talk about it' culture probably gave comfort to many of them.
How is it that the world seemed so much safer back then?