50 commonalities between trials of the Inquisition and contemporary trials for rape and pedophilia

Introduction

The Outreau judicial disaster brought to light serious dysfunctions within the justice system. The entire nation was outraged, the media issued a mea culpa, and a Commission of Inquiry attempted to trace the root causes of the problem. The idea that citizens could, without having committed any illegal act, see their lives destroyed by investigative errors or false accusations is intolerable. Consequently, the disaster was presented by those in the legal profession as a unique case, resulting from exceptional errors committed by certain magistrates.

Investigating Judge Burgaud, whom many held responsible, defended himself by stating that he had conscientiously followed all established procedures. The Prosecutor, who oversaw the entire procedure, was questioned at length by the Commission of Inquiry. He rightly pointed out that sixty-four other magistrates were involved in the case, and that not a single one had reported an irregularity that led to the debacle.

The logical conclusion is that the judicial system is structured in such a way that, even when its operating procedures are fully respected and implemented by magistrates who are, in principle, conscientious, it can lead to spectacular errors with grave human consequences. It is therefore necessary to question not only the individuals involved, but above all the operational methods of an institution bequeathed to us by previous generations, and whose principles are rooted in times when irrationality reigned supreme. The legal structures as they are applied today partly date back to the procedures implemented by the Inquisition, and partly to the French Revolution. The goals pursued at that time were either to ensure the Church’s triumph over the heresies that threatened its power, or to establish a new ideal and a new political power, rather than to address judicial errors. The stake, and later the guillotine, invented by the founder of the Academy of Medicine, eliminated any possibility of appeal or review of trials.

The numerous cases in which the justice system has contradicted itself, particularly since the introduction of appeals to the Assize Court, suggest that a lapse like that in the Outreau case is not as exceptional as has been claimed. It may well be merely the tip of an iceberg, the core of which remains shrouded in the secrecy of investigations and jury deliberations, or in the systematic refusal of retrials by the Court of Cassation. Retrials have only been granted in a few rare circumstances, generally under media pressure, and never in cases of rape or sexual assault. It is understandable that judges may find it difficult to overturn decisions made by other members of the institution, but this situation nonetheless results in serious injustices.

The work of the Outreau Commission also led to only minor reforms. Replacing the investigating judge with a triumvirate will not solve the problem, given that some sixty magistrates were insufficient to prevent abuses. Recording minors’ statements to prevent them from repeating them is a way to protect them, but it also risks reinforcing false accusations due to the impossibility of forcing the accuser to contradict themselves. Similarly, placing repeat offenders in detention after they have served their sentences risks increasing the number of murders of victims out of fear of inescapable sentences. All the measures taken are double-edged swords because they do not address the root of the problem. You cannot restore an individual’s health without knowing the origins of their illness. Otherwise, treatment remains merely palliative and often adds unforeseen adverse effects.

It is possible that the causes of this problem lie in the fundamental principles of procedure, in the position that justice occupies in our society, and in the pressures exerted by the media. This is not about exonerating rapists and pedophiles, but about considering the objectivity of the justice system, both in relation to false accusations and in terms of tailoring the sentence to the severity of the acts. Just as in cases of murder, the punishment must be adapted to the perpetrator’s intentions, and just as we distinguish between the different levels of homicide, murder, and assassination, sexual offenses and crimes should logically be considered in light of their reality, their motivations, and their consequences, free from any emotional reaction or prejudice. However, abuses like the Outreau case and other similar cases clearly stem from an emotional context that obscures the fundamental principles of justice. The initial reaction is to blame a particular judge or specific cause of dysfunction, or to change a few details in the code of procedure in the hope that the same problem won’t recur, when in fact the issue should be addressed on a more fundamental level.

One avenue of theoretical research involves considering miscarriages of justice not as the expression of individual human errors, but as the root cause of pathogenic psychosocial constants, whether conscious or unconscious. These factors can be brought to light by comparing the dysfunctions of the current judicial system with those of centuries past, and by postulating that they correspond to constant criteria of psychosocial functioning specific to humankind in general or to our culture in particular. This method allows us to highlight certain common traits that are not immediately apparent in the contemporary context, remaining obscured by stereotypes and familiar settings. Viewed in a different context, with a few centuries of hindsight and evolving mentalities, cause-and-effect relationships become clearer and can then be transposed to the present day, guiding reflection in directions of analysis that might have escaped direct exploration.

Here, based on testimonies from defendants who were victims of false accusations, including my own experience, I offer an initial inventory of the common features between current trials for rape and pedophilia and the trials of the Inquisition and the Witch Hunts, while leaving it to the reader to draw the conclusions that seem most appropriate according to their own sensibilities.

1. Demonization

In the Middle Ages, an individual denounced for heresy, witchcraft, or carnal sins, even without proof and if they proclaimed their innocence, was presumed guilty and considered possessed by the devil, so that only torture could make them confess their crimes. Everything he could say or do in his defense was attributed to the evil forces possessing him and only worsened his situation. If he denied it, he was under the demon’s influence and could only be lying; if he confessed too easily, it was to conceal even worse crimes than those he was accused of, and he had to be tortured even more. This dimension of possession by evil forces, transposed into the more modern terms of perversion, neurosis, dangerousness, and other psychiatric concepts, is found in the image of the pedophile or rapist. The subject is inhabited by sadistic impulses inscribed in a very irreversible way in his psychic structures, foreshadowing inevitable recidivism: the sex offender is ashamed of his actions, he always lies. Everything he might say to justify or exonerate himself is attributed to his perversity. As was once the case with the iconography of the devil, the demonization of sexual misconduct generates numerous errors of judgment on the part of the public, the media, and the justice system.

2. Presumption of Guilt

Anyone accused of rape or pedophilia is immediately seen by the majority as a monster, regardless of their true guilt or innocence. No sooner are a few accusations made than the media seize upon them, those close to the accused distance themselves, testimonies of suspicion multiply and serve as incriminating evidence, and the justice system treats the accused as a dangerous individual who must be removed from society. The press publicly accuses them without giving them a voice, and the rules of defamation and the right of reply are no longer applied. Everything an individual does to defend themselves is held against them, whether they proclaim their innocence or make confessions, including false confessions under pressure from investigators. If they try to prove their accuser is lying, they are considered all the more perverse. If they commit suicide, they confirm their guilt. Pressed by public opinion, the justice system takes action in the name of its duty to protect, disregarding individual rights, long before the facts have been established or before the “serious and consistent” evidence required by the code of procedure is available. A divorced mother who wants to take custody of her children away from her ex-husband only has to accuse him of attempted rape or sexual assault; the father is immediately deprived of custody, quarantined, and often imprisoned based on mere circumstantial evidence, for months or even years of investigation. Otherwise, he loses his job and his dignity as a father. If he has already had dealings with the justice system for morals offenses, the presumption of recidivism serves as proof, while the person accusing him has used his past to build false accusations.

A magistrate who applied the principle of the presumption of innocence would be accused of leniency and stigmatized in the media, just as the Inquisition judge who acquitted someone accused of heresy or witchcraft was suspected of complicity with the devil.

3. Presumption of Lying

Lying is part of the pedophile’s profile, just as it was part of the image of the demonic figure burdened with all the deadly sins. In both responsible circles and among the public, it is assumed that “the pedophile always lies” and that “the victim tells the truth.” It is difficult to speak about a sexual assault or rape, for fear of reprisals, under the influence of feelings of guilt, or for fear of being discredited, from which it is deduced that the victim’s statements must be an understatement. Such a generalization, obscuring the ever-present possibility of differences from one individual to another and from one case to another, traps the investigation in a presumption of guilt and deprives the accused of the benefit of the doubt. The same Manichean attitude is found in trials for heresy or witchcraft: the individual possessed by a demon could only be evil and resort to lies, while the courage of their accusers guaranteed them credibility and sincerity in the fight against evil. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that the victim testifies under oath, unlike the accused; the same applies to their respective families. The consequence is an asymmetry in the administration of justice, which relies in principle on the testimony of the victim and rejects the denials of the accused, thus being able to work only to incriminate them. Given the difficulty, if not impossibility, of proving the falsity of an accusation of rape or sexual assault, the path is wide open to miscarriages of justice, beginning with the abusive use of pretrial detention.

4. Definition of Acts

In every sexual relationship, there are positive and negative components. A consensual sexual act always involves internal conflicts of guilt and reticence, more or less consciously tempering the fulfillment of desires. It is therefore possible, in retrospect, to emphasize the negative elements, even if they were not predominant at the time, that is, to present as rape or sexual assault what was simply a normal relationship. Such a distortion of reality is made even easier by the broadening of the definition of rape: the penal code considers rape to have occurred as soon as there is “moral coercion” or “surprise,” a definition that leaves the door wide open to all sorts of reinterpretations of lived experience. If the victim is under fifteen, even if she consented or initiated the act, any relationship is automatically considered an assault, or even rape if there has been any form of penetration or fellatio (from the adult to the minor or vice versa). This broadening of the terminology leads to a classification of acts that does not conform to lived reality or their physical or psychological consequences. The same stereotyping is found in the notion of mortal sin attributed to lust based solely on physical criteria, often fantasized, without regard to the actual behavior or feelings of the partners. The situation worsened, as the heretic was considered a victim of the devil, while the rapist was presumed to act deliberately, in reference to his own perversity.

5. Denial of Love

The term “love” does not appear in any article of the penal code. A sexual act experienced by partners as an expression of shared love is considered a crime by law if it is presented as assault or rape, or if it transgresses certain age limits. Thus, a criminal classification is a priori attributed, based on an arithmetic criterion or a perspective that has nothing to do with lived reality, to what could have been a moment of happiness. It is nonetheless evident that the primary criterion that determines the beauty or depravity of a sexual relationship, and that defines its meaning and consequences, is either the presence of mutual love or the pursuit of selfish pleasure by one partner at the expense of the other. The possibility that a relationship between a minor and an adult could be based on shared love is systematically denied, both in public opinion and in legal discourse, even though age limits are arbitrary (and vary from one country to another), and even though the seriousness of the acts depends on the nature of the relationship. The same kind of cover-up allowed the Inquisitors to label any sexual relationship as lust and a capital sin when it transgressed the boundaries of the marital bond—boundaries that were also arbitrary, as evidenced by the omnipresence of adultery in our culture—and to pronounce the harshest punishments against the alleged sinners without a shred of conscience.

6. Coercion and Consent

The penal code equates any relationship between a man and a woman who presents herself as the victim, or between an older person and a minor under fifteen or eighteen, with rape or sexual assault, based on the premise that the minor or the submissive partner is incapable of defending themselves. This perspective obscures cases where the partner consents or initiates the relationship, and, moreover, deprives them of the right to assert this. The alleged victim can only with great difficulty establish the truth and retroactively declare themselves consenting; they will be considered manipulated, or blamed, and will not be listened to. A consenting minor designated as a victim cannot contest the classification of the act as assault or rape. If they attempt to do so, they alienate the court from the older partner they wish to support. The penal code specifies that the act in question must be judged taking into account whether the minor initiated the act, consented, or was coerced, but this provision is no longer applied by the courts. Such a conflation would amount to considering any heterosexual act between adults as rape, under the pretext that heterosexuality can, in some cases, become coercive, and would impose the status of victim on the woman even if she declares herself consenting or the initiator. Yet, the two forms of relationship are diametrically opposed: a coercive relationship evokes sexual fear and leaves behind trauma, while a desired and spontaneously experienced relationship builds character and leaves behind a memory of happiness. This is not about minimizing the adult’s responsibility, but about questioning the objectivity of the justice system, whose principle is that an act should be punished according to its gravity and consequences. Denying these obvious truths is reminiscent of the workings of the Inquisition’s courts, where the sin of the flesh led to the stake, regardless of the condemned’s feelings and motivations.

7. Discernment

The legislation is based on the principle that a child or a partner deemed vulnerable is incapable of discerning right from wrong, in this case, incapable of discerning what will or will not cause them trauma. Logically, therefore, an adult who is the target of an attempted seduction by a minor or someone they are likely to dominate (for example, a boss with an employee) should remind them of the laws of morality and refuse their advances. The schematic representation of the romantic relationship that underpins this obligation, however, neglects the key dimension that determines whether it is a beneficial relationship or a perversion: the presence or absence of mutual love. Thus, a teacher who responds to the romantic advances of a 17-and-a-half-year-old student is automatically condemned for rape, given that rape is established as soon as the partner is unable to give informed consent. The situation is particularly contradictory when the adult is a woman and the student a young man. An objective approach to this type of situation would require first defining the causes of the presumed trauma. However, according to psychiatric studies, these causes include family reactions, police and judicial intervention in the intimacy of the relationship, general moral pressure, and sometimes rejection by the adult. The adult is therefore guilty of exposing the minor to these causes of trauma, conduct that is undoubtedly reprehensible, but this is far from constituting rape with its specific type of trauma. The charges and penalties should be adjusted accordingly. In terms of discernment, the law fails to distinguish between a relationship experienced as an act of mutual love, often initiated by the minor, and a case where the minor succumbs to coercion, threats, or seduction by an adult. This is similar to how trials for heresy failed to differentiate between heretics who rejected the word of God to serve evil and those who rejected Church practices to better serve good.

8. Manichaeism

A sexual relationship between a minor and an adult is considered to necessarily cause serious and irreversible trauma. In reality, while some of these relationships can be extremely harmful, in other cases they may not have the same negative consequences, or may even be beneficial to the psychosexual development of the minor, as psychiatric studies of consenting victims unanimously demonstrate. Public morality and legislation obscure this possibility, projecting onto the child-adult relationship the image of absolute evil, much like the image of the devil was projected onto any form of heresy, without considering the actual consequences of the acts deemed culpable. The mere mention of consorting with the devil led to being burned at the stake; similarly, the words “pedophilia” and “rapist” are laden with a content of opprobrium and hatred that prevents, even in the courts, an objective examination of the basis of the accusations and the differences between behaviors.

9. Immorality

The child-adult relationship is considered a priori immoral, even though nothing rationally demonstrates this immorality. Psychoanalysis, on the contrary, shows that neurosis and perversion, the primary sources of immorality, are a consequence of early sexual repression. Paradoxically, most psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, and psychologists refuse to consider the hypothesis that the fulfillment of natural drives could help prevent neurosis. Moral pressure is so strong that this fundamental question has yet to be explored, even though Freud himself clearly addressed it in his later writings. The proper exercise of justice would dictate that the immorality of an act, as a source of trauma, be demonstrated before the appropriate punishment is assessed. These prejudices reflect the principle of defilement, in the name of which people were condemned for mortal sins, even when nothing demonstrated the existence of such defilement, as well as the impossibility for a moralist of that era to consider the natural character of the polymorphous nature of human sexuality.

#10. Exorcism

Condemnation is considered essential to free the pedophile or rapist from their perverse impulses and feelings of guilt, and to alleviate the victim’s trauma, just as torture and purifying fire were once considered the only remedies capable of exorcising evil and protecting the community. Psychiatric treatments, intended to bring to the surface from their unconscious the conflicts that generate their perverse tendencies in order to control them, bear a striking resemblance to the techniques of adjuration, meant to drive the demon from its lair and annihilate it. Psychoanalytic techniques seem more rational to us, but nothing has demonstrated, for example, that Freudian methods are more effective than the old exorcisms. They themselves rest on certain unproven dogmas, such as the necessity of forbidding children from fulfilling their Oedipal impulses, the idea that the goal of polymorphous drives is the pursuit of pleasure, the denial of the paranormal, etc.—presuppositions whose consequences are not necessarily less pernicious than those of demonic beliefs. At least if one accepts that endemic neurosis is rooted in the repression of the Oedipus complex.

11. De Facto Collusion Between Prosecutor and Investigating Judge

The prosecutor tasks the investigating judge with conducting the inquiry: the latter acts as the former’s agent and, by virtue of this position, intervenes in favor of the prosecution. It is humanly impossible for him to make an objective judgment on the investigation he is conducting: he is both judge and party and would risk undermining his own work. Throughout the investigation, he is influenced by the views of the Prosecutor or his deputies, whom he meets regularly in the courthouse corridors. His image with his superiors and his professional standing would be compromised if he were to deviate from public opinion and expose the judicial system to media scrutiny. This makes him the instrument of widespread pressure, incompatible with the proper administration of justice, which ends up being governed by a few journalists more interested in scandal than in fairness. A case built with bias inevitably influences a court’s decision. This situation constitutes a form of institutionalized collusion, contrary to the most fundamental principle of justice, which aims to bring the prosecution and the defense face to face and entrust the assessment of the dispute to an independent judge. It has serious consequences for the handling of rape and pedophilia cases, given the particularly acute paranoia surrounding these issues. A similar tacit understanding existed among the magistrates sitting in the courts of the Inquisition, justified by the invincible power of the Devil, who had to be fought at any cost, and reinforced by the fear of the sanctions that could result from deviating from the prevailing orthodoxy.

11. Rights of the Defense

The rights of the defense during the investigation are virtually nonexistent in the French judicial system. The defendant is forbidden from conducting a counter-investigation. The judge can arbitrarily refuse supplementary investigative measures that the accused or their counsel deem essential to establishing the truth. The judge appoints the experts and counter-experts themselves. They can refuse a request for a counter-expertise without having to justify it in an adversarial hearing. The extension of detention orders is formally decided in an adversarial hearing involving the prosecutor, the judge, and the defense, but in practice, the judge makes the decision in advance. More concerned with gathering evidence than with the suffering of the accused, and fearing the scandal that would erupt upon the release of someone condemned a priori by the media, it is difficult for the investigating magistrate to make a fair decision regarding pretrial detention. In the event of an appeal by the defense, the Court of Appeal has a procedural loophole that allows it to avoid rejecting the appeal without a substantive review. If it does agree to hear the appeal, it will, by custom, for reasons of economy, or due to professional solidarity, side with the investigating magistrate. The judges responsible for pretrial detention, as stipulated by the justice reform, are themselves influenced by the climate of fear surrounding rape and pedophilia cases. The same will certainly be true in the case of a second investigating magistrate: two judges working on the same case will be more inclined to compete in uncovering evidence than in seeking exculpatory evidence. Infringements on the rights of the defense reflect the general pressure of public opinion, just as the fear of the devil justified the measures taken by the Inquisitors that violated individual rights.

12. Sentences

Following the popular consensus, the Ministry of Justice officially considers that sexual offenses and crimes must be “at the top of the sentencing scale.” Prosecutors even go so far as to remind jurors of the provisions for sentence reductions for good behavior, so as to anticipate the calculation of the sentence handed down by adding in advance what might be deducted in the event of the inmate’s reform and efforts at social rehabilitation. Then, judges responsible for the execution of sentences assume that parole and sentence reductions must be denied to sex offenders. Such severity is understandable in the case of rape—although it amounts to saying that premeditated murder should be punished less severely than the psychological disorders that lead to sexual crimes. In the current context, any relationship with a minor under 15 is considered rape, even if it is an expression of mutual love: this means that an act of love, when it does not respect certain age limits, must be punished more severely than murder. We find here the same impassioned attitude as during the trials for witchcraft or carnal sin, where the slightest signs of lust or collusion with the devil were punishable by burning at the stake, regardless of their nature or gravity. This irrational attitude is based in part on the belief in the deterrent effect of harsh sentences, whereas the fear of repression remains ineffective against perverse impulses of unconscious origin, and harsher sentences risk increasing the number of child murders, due to the perpetrator’s panic upon being reported.

13°. The Influence of Rumor

Every case of sexual delinquency is the object of heightened, even morbid, interest from the media and the public. Rumors, even the most outlandish, spread extremely quickly and always in line with the presumption of guilt. The way these kinds of rumors are transmitted and amplified reveals the same fears, fantasies, and conflations as those surrounding the sex and witchcraft cases of the Middle Ages. Rumor exerts conscious and unconscious pressure on magistrates and juries, just as it influenced the judges of the Holy Office. Once inspired by the fear of the devil upon which the Church based its moral and material power, the rumor triggered today by any sexual deviation is fueled by the irrational fears upon which the media, the new purveyors of morality, base their commercial power and their influence over minds. It ultimately obscures the true harmfulness of certain sexual behaviors and irrationally stigmatizes harmless behaviors, which legislators and courts then punish with penalties as severe as those of the former, disregarding the reality of lived experience and its consequences. It is incompatible with the concern for fairness that should characterize a judicial institution worthy of the name.

14. Expert Bias

Accusations, whether true or false, are presented to the expert in the form of charges written in the indicative mood, without any distinction in the language between a suspicion and a certainty. The investigation file refers to “facts” when it is merely a matter of presumptions and gives considerable weight to the statements of prosecution witnesses. Such a procedure immediately presents the expert with a dilemma: if they declare the accused to be well-balanced and credible in their denials, they may fear that the court will find them guilty, and they would face serious repercussions; if they declare the accused to be perverse and capable of the acts with which they are charged, the accused may be acquitted, and the expert would also face repercussions. However, in this second, much rarer case, no one can fault the expert for considering the accused capable of committing the alleged acts, since an individual can very well be capable of a crime and not have committed it. Whereas in the first case, the expert’s professional competence would be directly called into question for failing to recognize an individual who was dangerous to society. Thus, the risk to his reputation is infinitely greater if he submits a favorable report, inevitably leading him to skew his expertise towards perversion, dangerousness, and a presumption of guilt. Even if he specifies, as is customary, that his conclusions are valid only if the alleged acts were committed, the judges and jurors will refer to them when rendering a guilty verdict, which will in turn validate his conclusions. The whole thing constitutes a blatant case of begging the question, but is tolerated just as procedural abuses were tolerated in the trials of the Inquisition. The expert finds himself in the same position as the exorcist tasked with determining whether the accused was possessed by a demon: concluding in his favor would certainly make him appear incompetent or an accomplice of Satan. Once the demon was seen everywhere and a conviction was likely, the exorcist had every incentive to condemn the accused: his report guaranteed a conviction that validated his competence as an exorcist; if he hadn’t recognized possession, he risked being considered an accomplice and accompanying the condemned man to the stake. On the other hand, in the highly improbable event of an acquittal, he ran no risk for having discerned the demon where it had not yet acted.

15. De Facto Corruption

The investigating magistrate appoints experts of his choosing. If an expert too often reaches conclusions contrary to the judge’s expectations, which amounts to calling into question the thoroughness of the investigation, the judge will hesitate to entrust him with further expert assessments, especially important ones. An expert who gets on the wrong side of a judge thus sees his chances of being appointed to other cases diminish and finds his income directly threatened. Thus, a de facto link exists between the conclusions of expert opinions and the financial benefits received by the expert. Similarly, a judge who too often opposes the general consensus is frowned upon by their superiors and pays the price in terms of career advancement; that is to say, they indirectly jeopardize their financial interests depending on whether or not they yield to the influences that sway their decisions. These facts constitute a form of passive corruption, which taints the functioning of the justice system, strikingly reminiscent of the position of a judge under a monarchy, threatened with dismissal and the loss of their pension if they did not align themselves with the powers that be and the prevailing moral consensus.

16. Rational Argumentation Impossible

Any form of rational explanation or justification for a relationship between a minor and an adult, referring, for example, to Greek pederasty, Tantrism, the fact that child-adult relationships were common in Europe before Puritanism, etc., is immediately considered an attempt by the accused to justify their perversions. Objectively speaking, a questioning of contemporary morality by the presumed offender should be considered either as belonging to their freedom of opinion, or even as a step useful to the community in cases where morality is contrary to natural laws, or at the very least as a mitigating circumstance insofar as it excludes the intention to harm and demonstrates a desire for intellectual honesty. In current trials, such an approach is systematically used, by both experts and the prosecution, to blacken the character of the “predator” and has the sole effect of worsening the sentence, just as the heretic who dared to criticize the validity of Church dogma was once condemned. In particular, above-average intelligence, just as it made the accused a more dangerous emissary of the Devil, is considered a priori an aggravating factor. While it would allow the adult to better understand the child’s needs and to better discern errors in either morality or their own conduct, it is recorded against them as further proof of a desire to justify their perversions and manipulate their alleged victims, as if they were possessed by evil forces.

17. Conflating Pedophilia and Pathology

Common sense considers the pedophile to be fundamentally psychopathic. During the Puritan era, any sexual activity deviating from normal intercourse was labeled pathological. All forms of polymorphous contact were described as morbid manifestations, for example in Krafft-Ebing’s seminal work, “De psychopathia sexualis.” The systematic labeling of any child-adult relationship as pathological, even though such relationships can take forms as diverse as any other type of sexual interaction, ranging from the most abject rape to behaviors most respectful of the minor’s wishes, reflects the same irrational attitude. We can observe the same conflation regarding homosexual behavior, considered pathological just a few decades ago (and still today in some circles) and automatically equated with rape. A rational approach would be to objectively examine our perception of the child-adult relationship, the actual experiences of the partners, and its true consequences, much like the Enlightenment era questioned the validity of beliefs and taboos inherited from the Middle Ages.

18. Lynching and Death Threats

In prisons, as in everyday life, suspected sex offenders are subjected to contempt, insults, death threats, and violence, often carried out even before their guilt has been verified. Groups of young people attack buildings housing homosexuals or pedophiles with the intention of burning them alive. A kind of parallel morality justifies these abuses, pushing the perpetrators to play vigilante as if the sanctions imposed through institutional channels were always insufficient. Such a climate makes detention much more difficult for this type of convict, but neither the prison administration nor the courts take this into account when assessing sentences and granting pardons; quite the contrary. This testifies to unconscious forces that prevail over rational considerations and that underlie police interventions and judicial procedures, just as presumed demonic possession justified, during the Inquisition’s investigations, all manner of abuses by the public and institutions.

19°. Torture

Preventive detention, with its violations of human dignity, strip searches, handcuffs, restraints, being led on a leash, harassment, censorship and seizure of mail, inability to communicate with loved ones, underpaid work, deplorable food, cessation of all normal sexual activity, seizure of property, expropriation, destruction of professional and family situations, all for extremely long periods, constitutes a form of moral torture and psychological destruction, damaging vital functions and mental equilibrium, deliberately implemented by the justice system. To this is added the reconstruction of the lived reality, cleverly elaborated by prosecutor and magistrate during the investigation in order to subject the “facts” to the criteria of the penal code, with the pain for the future condemned to be attributed acts they did not commit, or to see a romantic experience transformed into a scenario of perversion. The suffering thus generated is hidden in the name of the manifestation of truth and the immanence of punishment, just as the abuse of heretics or sinners was admitted on the pretext of unmasking the ignominy of a demon that did not exist.

20°. Physical and Dignity-Related Offenses

Offenses against the body, such as the physical or chemical castration of sex offenders, were or still are considered legitimate in some countries, just as it was once considered normal to cut off the hands of thieves. These methods, supposedly designed to prevent recidivism, even if they remain mere popular fantasies or exceptional therapeutic measures, echo the principle of fighting the devil that erased all scruples during the crimes of the Inquisition. More recently, technological advances have been exploited to record the genetic fingerprints of sex offenders in an automated national database, a new version of the branding used in the Middle Ages. In some neighboring countries, there is talk of publishing lists of pedophiles in the media or making them publicly available, following the Magane Act in the United States, even though it has proven ineffective. These measures, perhaps justified when it comes to prosecuting convicted sex offenders or murderers, overlook the fact that the vast majority of sex crimes involve family and close acquaintances. They expose to public outrage individuals who have already paid their dues to the justice system, pave the way for false accusations and media intrusion, contradict the notions of the rule of law, rehabilitation, and re-education, and are strikingly reminiscent of how relapsed heretics were treated during the persecution of heretics.

21. Compensation for Accusers

The payment of compensation to victims is in itself an incentive for false accusations. This perverse effect of current legislation (which guarantees compensation by the State when the convicted person is insolvent) is ignored in the name of victim assistance, even though it is likely to increase slanderous accusations. In principle, any witness tampering should be severely punished by law; here, the judicial system itself is responsible for compensating false accusers, just as the fear of the devil justified the production of false witnesses. The denial of justice was justified by the omnipotence of the forces of evil, which had to be fought by all means: it was better to burn innocent people than to let a presumed henchman of Satan go free. Today, in contempt of the most basic principles of law, victims of slanderous accusations are imprisoned rather than risk letting a suspected pedophile remain at large.

22. Retraction

A person who has made false accusations and decides to retract them faces a whole series of resistances and threats: the police officer or judge, whose work is suddenly compromised and who feel ridiculed, confronts them to remind them that they risk prison and a heavy fine for obstructing justice, or even a lawsuit from their rapist for slanderous accusation; that they would be morally responsible should the accused commit further offenses; that she would risk reprisals if he were released; that she would in any case be covered in disgrace, either because she lied when she made the accusation, or because she is now trying to deceive the justice system; and, a new and compelling argument since the soaring fees, that she would lose her compensation, which amounts to offering her several hundred thousand francs, guaranteed by the State, to maintain her false accusations. These methods, systematically employed in the absence of material evidence of innocence, constitute de facto subornation, coupled with blackmail, reminiscent of the advantages offered to informers in the trials of the Inquisition and the abuses with which they were threatened if they recanted their statements.

23. Disregard for Retractions

When the alleged victim recants and retracts her accusations, her statement is recorded, but the legal proceedings continue as if nothing had happened. Uncertainty about the validity of the accusation should, in the name of human rights and the presumption of innocence, encourage the immediate lifting of the pre-trial detention of the accused. At trial, in the absence of physical evidence of guilt, the benefit of the doubt should go to the accused. However, the alleged victim’s retraction is more readily considered further evidence of guilt: she is still under the influence of her attacker, she fears reprisals upon his release from prison, she is the target of manipulation or attempted bribery, which explains her change of heart. If she demonstrates through her behavior that she loved or still loves her alleged rapist, that she has never had anything to reproach him for, that she accused him out of jealousy or unrequited love, the love she professes is used to invalidate her testimony: it is because she still loves him that she forgives his actions; a rapist who exerts such a powerful influence must be punished all the more severely. Under the Inquisition, a witness who recanted was similarly suspected of succumbing to diabolical forces, and their retraction became additional evidence against the accused, who was deemed all the more dangerous and manipulative.

24. Trauma

The law is based on the thesis of trauma supposedly following any child-adult relationship. This trauma undoubtedly exists in cases of violence or coercion. However, such acts of rape should not objectively be confused, in terms of their consequences, with a relationship initiated by the minor or freely consented to within the framework of mutual love. The trauma theory dates back to the 19th century; it has been refuted by psychoanalysis, which has largely demonstrated that the greatest trauma of early childhood stems from the repression of infantile sexuality. Now, the repression of infantile drives is a direct consequence of the legislation, given that these drives are by nature directed towards parents or their substitutes. The penal code, like morality, could therefore prove responsible for the greatest trauma suffered by children, a fact ignored by the public and representatives of the justice system, and systematically concealed by those who hold the keys to knowledge. This same concealment pervades all psychiatric studies, which unanimously demonstrate that the trauma observed in victims examined after the stress of legal proceedings is a consequence of the intervention of parents, the police, and the justice system, and not of the acts themselves (except in cases of violence or coercion). The irrational attitude that attributes unproven harm to a romantic relationship is reminiscent of the omnipotent image once held of the supposed abuses of the devil, which were also unprovable. Added to this is the trauma of children pressured into making false accusations against their parents or other adults, who then carry the burden of false testimony and its dramatic consequences for the rest of their lives. Today’s justice system obscures this perverse effect of its operation, just as the suffering of a child driven to accuse their parents of heresy and responsible for their execution was once obscured in the name of good.

25. Confusion between Morality and the Law

In a state governed by the rule of law, the law is supposed to protect against real harm, not impose an arbitrary morality. However, in morality trials, the prosecution appeals to principles of popular morality and latent hatred of sexual differences in order to influence juries and obtain harsher sentences. Legislators themselves are influenced by the prevailing moral pressure, particularly in matters of pedophilia: a member of parliament who proposes distinguishing sexual assault from a relationship inspired by love, or who challenges the dogma of trauma, would lose their constituents. Democratic justice behaves as an instrument serving a dominant and largely irrational morality, contradicting the fundamental principle of freedom of opinion. This position would be acceptable if it were objectively established that the dominant morality corresponds to the genetic data of human sexuality and guarantees the well-being of the child, whereas it is at the origin of the Oedipal trauma by instituting the repression of early drives. Galileo was condemned by the Inquisition because he violated the dominant morality that made the Earth the center of the Universe: here we find the same confusion and the same refusal to question accepted beliefs.

26°. Arbitrary Limits

Age limits vary according to countries and cultures; they did not exist in traditional societies before the influence of Judeo-Christian morality, nor even in Western society until the 18th century. They are therefore arbitrary. Moreover, they bear no relation to the reality of the sexual relationship: They disregard the presence or absence of love, the primary criterion differentiating a beneficial relationship from a perverse one. A relationship between a boy of 15 and a girl of 15 constitutes rape or sexual assault, even if the minor initiates it. Similarly, a romantic relationship between an adult and an 18-year-old minor may be imbued with all the beauty of love; if the adult is granted a position of authority, even if he has yielded to the girl’s persistent advances, it will be classified as rape, and the adult as a sex offender. The same arbitrary nature is evident in the criteria invoked during witchcraft trials, for example, when it was decreed that the accused was a witch if she did not drown when plunged into water.

27°. Conviction Without Evidence

The principle of “intimate conviction,” which excludes the requirement of material evidence or reliable testimony, allows for the conviction of a defendant based on mere probabilities, without any judicial error being attributable to the judges or jurors. Deliberate accusations of rape or sexual assault are now sufficient to convince a court to sentence the accused to very harsh penalties, based solely on the word of an alleged victim. The benefit of the doubt no longer goes to the defense, but to the prosecution and the civil parties, thus guaranteeing the success of false allegations. Similarly, in the trials of the Inquisition, a few accusations without proof were enough to sway the court and justify the verdict of burning at the stake. The divine inspiration and presumed infallibility of the Inquisitors are found identically in the principle of the sovereignty of the jurors’ “intimate conviction” and in the dogma of the infallibility of popular justice.

28°. Mitigating Circumstances

In cases of pedophilia, the penal code takes into account neither the adult’s intent nor the actual consequences of their actions. For example, the fact that the minor initiated the act; that the adult responded to the minor’s impulses in order to avoid hurting them with rejection; that the minor felt happy and grateful to the adult for fulfilling their expectations; that the relationship contributed to their personal or sexual development, etc., are not considered. A positive attitude on the part of the minor, on the contrary, is considered incriminating evidence, attributed to the adult’s power of seduction or manipulation, which appears all the more dangerous. In all other forms of offenses or crimes, the perpetrator’s intent and the consequences of the act play a crucial role in determining the sentence. Manslaughter is not judged as murder, nor is a crime of passion judged as assassination. Simple reason dictates that an act of love should not be judged as a perverse act, nor an act desired by a minor as an act imposed by an adult. We find the same concealment of intentions and consequences of the acts in question in trials for heresy or witchcraft: having served the king and saved France was not enough to escape the stake; the apparent good intentions were merely another deception inspired by the Devil.

29. Disturbance of Public Order

Provisional releases are systematically refused on the grounds of disturbing public order. This provision is understandable when the accusations are based on acts actually committed. In all other cases, the disturbance of public order is caused by the slanderous accusations of an alleged victim, or by minors manipulated by those around them, a foster family, or the psychologists called in to help. This situation results in condemning an innocent person to long years of pretrial detention, against whom only unfounded suspicions and prevarications exist. It creates fertile ground for settling family scores and for coalitions fueled by paranoia or self-interest. The justice system thus makes the accused pay for the popular fear and media pressure surrounding an evil it is incapable of eradicating. Similarly, false accusations of heresy immediately justified all measures of imprisonment and torture, under the pretext of fighting evil, protecting society, and the presumption of guilt.

30. Witnesses for the Defense

Any witness who defended the innocence of a defendant suspected of consorting with the devil was suspected of being a minion of Satan himself. The person who today takes the risk of testifying in favor of an alleged pedophile is immediately suspected of having the same tendencies, or of seeking to protect a friend for hidden reasons, so that their testimony remains a dead letter. Simply speaking in favor of an individual presented as a pedophile exposes any potential witness to such rumors and stigma that few have the courage to do so, even if they are personally convinced of the individual’s innocence. Furthermore, the indictment of an individual for a sexual crime instills in all those likely to speak on their behalf a suspicion that dissuades them from offering support, for fear of condoning highly reprehensible behavior. The suspicion of pedophilia thus leads to the de facto excommunication of the presumed guilty party, making their defense even more difficult, just as those accused of heresy or witchcraft were abandoned by all once they came under the scrutiny of the Inquisition.

31°. Accusations Dictated to Victims

Investigators assume that victims need help to speak out, which is true when dealing with genuine victims, but leads to miscarriages of justice otherwise. In an attempt to facilitate confessions, they suggest acts during interrogations that they draw from classic depictions of rape and pedophilia. They cannot distinguish a priori between a real and a false victim, so they unwittingly cooperate in the fabrication of false accusations or, at the very least, in a skillful distortion of the facts. The process is facilitated by the fact that sexual relations adhere to a fairly simple iconography where roughly the same acts are always present; therefore, there is little risk of false statements being betrayed by contradictions or implausibilities. Furthermore, during the standard confrontation, if the victim hesitates to repeat their accusations to the person they are sending to prison, it is customary for the investigating judge to dictate word for word the information they can find in the transcripts of the initial hearings. Even if they receive only monosyllabic responses, the judge transcribes their suggestions as first-person statements, giving them all the appearance of spontaneous declarations. Cross-referencing these statements with the transcripts from which they were taken is then used to demonstrate the credibility of the accusations. This deprives the accused of the opportunity to highlight the variations and inconsistencies typically found in successive false statements, their only chance of confounding the accuser. The procedural flaw is concealed, much like the hidden agendas of the Inquisition trials.

32. Prefabricated Accusations.

For several years now, cases of rape or sexual assault have been omnipresent in the media, in films, on TV, in cinemas, etc. The scenarios and narratives surrounding them constitute, in the collective memory, a kind of heritage from which pseudo-victims simply draw to construct accusations that appear perfectly realistic: “He approached me smiling, but his eyes were fixed; he took off my underwear and forbade me to move; he hurt me, but I didn’t dare say anything; I screamed, but it seemed to excite him; he threatened to kill me if I spoke,” etc. The current context provides false accusers with all the necessary material to construct perfectly credible scenarios. Similarly, the satanic imagery that haunted minds in the Middle Ages provided a repertoire of prefabricated scenes and descriptions that allowed for the construction of accusations conforming to popular beliefs and swaying the inquisitors, while simultaneously justifying their abuses to the public.

33. Use of the Law for Personal Purposes

False accusations are, in principle, subject to criminal penalties, but the false accuser actually risks very little. It is virtually impossible for a person accused of rape or sexual assault to prove that the accusations against them are unfounded. There is no way to challenge the description of alleged sexual acts that occurred in private. Current legislation allows any former partner or other individual who has been in contact with a person to file a complaint against them, with a period of up to ten years for rape of an adult, and up to more than twenty years if the alleged act occurred when the presumed victim was a minor. The justice system thus becomes an instrument of revenge or blackmail attempts by individuals who can easily abuse the magistrates’ leniency to settle personal scores. They will also benefit from the unconditional support of victim support associations which, by their very statutes, cannot refuse assistance to anyone claiming to be a victim. Following the media campaign launched since the Dutroux affair, a growing number of young people may be tempted to exploit the legal loopholes to satisfy their resentments or obtain substantial compensation. They may count on their accusations prevailing over the accused’s denials, just as it was easy for well-connected individuals to file an accusation with an inquisitor to seek revenge or eliminate a rival; the judicial machinery would do the rest.

34°. Threats and Risk of Retaliation

The victim of a rapist or pedophile is traumatized, experiencing feelings of shame, guilt, and anguish that prevent them from speaking out. They may also fear reprisals. They may even have received death threats. If the case receives media attention, they may fear for their own reputation. This is how victims are explained away from speaking out. It’s forgotten that in cases of false accusations, the trauma and threats are nonexistent. The only risk the false victim faces would be reprisals from her alleged rapist afterward, but this risk is minimal: firstly, she can generally expect a long-term prison sentence; if he is granted provisional release, the alleged rapist would be ill-advised to make the slightest threats, as they would earn him a swift and more definitive return to prison. Reprisals would validate the accusations and considerably worsen his case, so only a fool would take that risk. Furthermore, it is no longer stigmatized to be considered the victim of sexual abuse; On the contrary, for some young people, it’s an excellent way to satisfy a desire for revenge, to attract widespread sympathy, to receive substantial compensation that will allow them to get a good start in life, or even to play a star role thanks to media frenzy. In this new context, false accusations can only multiply. It is therefore symptomatic that we continue to reason as in the past and to consider that any accusation is credible a priori. The same reliance was placed on the reliability of accusations during the trials of the Inquisition: the psychosis of mortal sin had become so widespread that it was much less problematic for a judge to wrongfully accuse a defendant than to dismiss a false accuser.

35°. Fabrication

In the context of the Middle Ages, the widespread fear of the devil preoccupied minds and generated all sorts of fantasies. Today, the fear instilled in children by talking about the potential danger of any adult triggers an abreaction, which can manifest as fantasies. Furthermore, as psychoanalysis has shown, children have very strong sexual drives that are repressed by their upbringing, so that sexual fantasies take on a compulsive character and can also lead to fantasies. These two factors combine to foster the construction of scenarios involving rape or sexual assault, allowing minors to transgress taboos in their imagination and compensate for their frustration. They will primarily externalize fantasies in which they appear as the victim. Psychiatrists and psychologists, under the pressure of the witch hunt, have developed the habit of ignoring or minimizing these unconscious mechanisms, just as the inquisitors disregarded the existence of a context of psychosis created by the Church, which could induce the most extravagant fabrications.

36°. Impossibility of telling the truth

A minor who has participated in or initiated a relationship with an adult cannot tell the truth. If, for example, they were to claim, “I wanted it, I was happy in the relationship, I regret nothing, etc.,” they would immediately be considered perverse by those around them and by social services officials. Should his parents take his side and acknowledge his right to express his natural urges with an adult partner, he would immediately be placed in an institution or foster home, supposedly to instill in him a model of normal behavior. When called to testify in court, his favorable testimony would be interpreted as a consequence of the abuser’s continued hold over him, thus only aggravating the charges. Similarly, a supposed victim of witchcraft who denied the demonic nature of the alleged acts would be placed among the accused and risk the most severe punishments.

37. Heresy and Excommunication

Anyone who publicly suggested that the child-adult relationship could be beneficial would immediately be accused of delusion or perversion. The media would make a scandal out of it, crying pedophile and denouncing them for condoning crime. The mere distinction between rape and responding to a child’s impulses is violently rejected by the representatives of moral order and is disregarded in legal proceedings. No one, not even within the profession of psychiatrists and psychoanalysts, can challenge the prevailing orthodoxy and question accepted ideas about childhood sexuality. Anyone who defended the fulfillment of so-called incestuous impulses in children or attempted to objectively analyze their consequences on psychosexual development would be unanimously ostracized by their colleagues. No researcher has ever been able to develop a theory of the unrepressed Oedipus complex, even though Freud believed this avenue should one day be explored. No criticism of the prevailing dogmas was possible, even by those who possessed knowledge, just as it was impossible for clergy dignitaries to question the dogmas of the Inquisition without risking excommunication. Anyone who dared to assert that the Earth revolved around the Sun or that a form of love with a spiritual aim existed was accused of heresy, for example, Father Bruno, who was forced into exile and burned at the stake in 1600. The Pope himself knew that Galileo was right, but could only change the sentence of imprisonment to one of house arrest for life.

38. Hypocrisy and the Code of Silence

The notion of mortal sin confined the sexual act to an unnatural prohibition. The individual had no other solution than to play a double game: conforming to the dominant discourse while living their sexuality in secret. Denying nature inevitably leads to hypocrisy. The prohibition against child-adult relationships clashes with the child’s natural impulses. This results in a kind of divide between discourse conforming to the law and the diffuse awareness of the traumatic consequences it entails. For example, it’s difficult to understand why a mother might tolerate incest between her child and her husband, or a pedophilic relationship with another adult. She herself doesn’t know exactly why. Subconsciously, she senses that the child is seeking to satisfy a fundamental need, while also being aware of the legal risks and the distance taken from prevailing morality. The child, insofar as they initiate the relationship, and provided it remains within the bounds of their own impulses, takes care to keep it secret. They often demonstrate more caution than adults: this helps us better understand the origin of the “code of silence.” Furthermore, it is often sufficiently educated or intuitive adults who take the risk of responding to the minor’s advances, being able to reconcile the contradiction between behavior they feel is important for the child and popular morality. This explains the suspicions of pedophilia directed at the upper classes of society. As soon as a case of this kind is brought before the courts and the public, everyone is obliged to conform to the official narrative, both to preserve their own reputation and to avoid legal trouble. For their part, children are forced to play the role of the victim, so as not to be covered in shame themselves. Torn between the memory of what they experienced and the narrative imposed on them by society, they feel compelled to accuse the adult of having seduced or threatened them, the only way to appear normal in the eyes of those around them. If the parents were aware of and respected the relationship in question, they are obligated, to avoid being accused of complicity, to conform to the legal narrative. The adult involved has only two options: deny the facts and irritate the court, or admit to them and play the psychopath, for example, by claiming to be a victim of sexual abuse. The code of silence no longer consists of concealing a traumatic relationship out of fear of rumor or punishment, but of concealing the fact that it could have been desired by the minor and beneficial to their psychosexual development. Thus, a persistent hypocrisy is established around the child-adult relationship, which continues to be presented as scandalous and pathological, just as the sin of the flesh was in the Middle Ages, notwithstanding the considerable freedom that existed in the reality of intimate life.

39°. Confusion with the notion of a cult.**

As soon as the image of a cult is mentioned, people expect to find rapes or pedophilic acts; Conversely, the mere mention of pedophilia immediately evokes the idea of ​​a network or cult. Similarly, in the Middle Ages, heresy in the faith was conflated with the formation of a cult, and any group that separated from the universal Church was suspected of heresy. The label “cult” allows for the rejection, by confining it to an entity external to society, of what is frightening or incomprehensible. The Psychoanalytic Society, for example, was long ostracized because Freud had affirmed the existence of infantile sexuality; today he would be labeled a guru, and his group of followers, a cult. The justice system implicitly uses presumed membership in a cult to make the guilt of a suspected pedophile more plausible; conversely, the suspicion of pedophilia, without any supporting evidence, is sufficient grounds to suspect a group or association of concealing cult-like activity.

40. Abusive Registration on the List of Sects

In France, there is no appeal process against registration on the list of sects. This registration is decided by parliamentary rapporteurs without any obligation to consult the individuals concerned or to provide substantial reasons. Mere suspicions concerning fund transfers or the illegal practice of medicine are sufficient, without further verification. Yet, this registration has serious moral, economic, and legal consequences, given that it influences the media, administrative decisions (which have been advised by internal circular to do everything possible to eradicate sects), and judicial decisions, particularly through the influence it can have on juries. Such registration, carried out unilaterally and without the possibility of appeal, constitutes a violation of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, and religion, much like the accusation of heresy in the Middle Ages.

41. Corruption of Minors

An adult who tells a minor what they believe to be the truth about sexuality—who explains, for example, that the urges every child feels for their parents or an elder are natural, that in other societies these urges can be freely expressed, that this was even the case in our own society two or three centuries ago, who explains what Plato said about sexuality as the origin of our own culture, that relationships with multiple partners were common, that homosexual urges are just as natural as any other, etc.—is guilty of corrupting minors. Similarly, a tutor in the Middle Ages who taught their pupil what seemed to them to be the truth—for example, that the devil was an invention of the Church, that the Crusades were contrary to the spirit of Christ, that the sexual act was not a capital sin in itself, etc.—risked the most severe penalties.

42°. Human Rights

An individual suspected of conspiring with the devil or of carnal sin could be subjected to all manner of infamy and abuse without anyone raising an eyebrow. A target of public opprobrium, insults, threats, and physical violence, he was made to appear completely naked to better display his abjection. Anything he might say in his defense was ridiculed or turned against him. Today, the alleged pedophile is also covered in opprobrium; newspapers drag him through the mud, disseminating unverified accusations and testimonies, and destroying his career. He is ruined by his lawyers, and the justice system throws him into pretrial detention on mere suspicion, without regard for the reality or the true nature of his actions. The confidentiality of the investigation is routinely violated, whether by the lawyers for the plaintiffs, by the police, or by the judges themselves. The press, during the ongoing investigation, published detailed accounts of the charges as if they were proven crimes, along with expert reports asserting the alleged perpetrator’s mental instability. The accused was denied any right to speak; no journalist could grant him a platform without risking their own reputation. While his dignity was outwardly respected by representatives of the justice system, the police, and especially prison guards, it was not in substance, as evidenced by the glances, the whispered conversations, and the tacitly tolerated harassment. Although physical violence was prohibited, he was subjected to moral abuse. The courts made him feel their disgust and turned a deaf ear to his explanations. His private life was exposed, his sexual relations presented in a shameful light, described without restraint and stripped of their emotional context. If he speaks of romantic feelings, we conclude that he is perverse; If he denies the facts and shows no remorse for acts he did not commit, he appears irredeemable and his case worsens. He is considered a danger to society, without any questioning of the moral basis upon which he is judged, just as the inquisitors did not question the validity of the beliefs in whose name they condemned thousands of innocent people.

43. Children’s Rights

Children must know that they have the right to control their own bodies. This principle is intended to protect minors from all forms of abuse, including brutality and corporal punishment, as well as sexual exploitation by adults. Children who are aware of this right are better able to defend themselves or complain if it is not respected. It is worth noting, however, that a genuine right to bodily autonomy should allow minors to establish a romantic relationship with the person of their choice, in accordance with their natural impulses. Denying them this possibility while leading them to believe they have bodily autonomy is a form of deception, exploiting their naiveté to insert them into a moral system whose relevance has not been proven. Among the rights of the child is also the right to normal health. Yet, the sexual prohibitions imposed on childhood sexuality are a cause of neurotic psychological development. Since neurosis is a significant pathology with serious consequences for the development and quality of life of the future adult, the right to health should logically include the right to a non-conflictual psychological structure. This would imply the right to the free expression of early impulses, which are naturally directed towards adults, as was the case before the advent of repressive morality. The first law establishing the offense of indecent assault dates from 1832, a time when people were convinced of the harmful effects of masturbation on health. Psychoanalysis demonstrated at the beginning of the following century that the original trauma of neurosis stemmed, on the contrary, from the repression of infantile sexuality. Respect for the fundamental rights of the child therefore implies a revision of the legislation, one that objectively takes into account the progress made in knowledge, just as it was necessary to revise the beliefs in demonic forces that underpinned the witch hunts and the persecution of heretics.

44°. Psychiatric Expertise.

Initially, psychiatrists were called upon to intervene in legal proceedings to determine the responsibility or irresponsibility of the accused. It also became common practice to use experts to assess an individual’s psychological makeup in order to determine their dangerousness. Psychiatric diagnosis is now commonly used to reinforce or confirm the presumption of guilt, particularly in cases of lack of evidence, and to influence the verdict. This trend goes hand in hand with a series of anomalies: from the moment the expert assessment is requested, the expert is influenced by the presumption of guilt that characterizes any investigation and by the charges, which are usually presented in the indictment with maximum seriousness; fearing that the accused will be found guilty, the expert is tempted, at the heart of the assessments, which are always delicate in matters of psychopathology, to emphasize the negative aspects of the alleged criminal’s personality; To justify his conclusions, he uses academic language whose terms, taken out of their professional context, impress a jury that cannot grasp their true implications. For example, the narcissistic or paranoid tendencies of the convicted person are mentioned in the preamble to a judgment. These tendencies should, in principle, diminish their responsibility, but they are systematically invoked to tarnish their character and increase the sentence, even though these traits are common in the psychological makeup of normal individuals. Furthermore, the expert’s conclusions are used to increase the likelihood of guilt, which is statistically true but meaningless in a particular case, as a pervert can be innocent, and a normal individual can have committed a crime. In short, expert testimony, which should in principle determine the degree of responsibility of the accused to justify or mitigate the sentence, is most often used to aggravate the charges and justify a harsher punishment, just as the conclusions of an exorcist could aggravate the charges by endorsing demonic possession.

#45. Substitution of a scenario for reality

The trials of the Inquisition were often based on fantasies drawn from the iconography of the devil: The perpetrator had been seen conversing with Satan, flames had erupted from the ground behind his feet, and a monster had appeared as he succumbed to lust. Current legal frameworks for investigating pedophilia also reconstruct reality using the fantasies circulating in people’s minds: the stereotype of the hyper-sexualized perpetrator lying in wait for his victim, the appetite for fresh flesh, the exploitation of the minor’s innocence, the exclusion of any romantic feelings, the projection of images of perversion, seduction, threats, murderous impulses, and even fantasies of black masses and mass graves of children. In every potential witness, a reinterpretation of memories occurs, fueled by collective psychosis, so that the most innocuous facts will corroborate the accusatory narrative. The penal code itself is structured in such a way as to substitute for lived reality a scenario that will emotionally justify the application of punishment: the notion of love is not mentioned, even though love is the primary criterion legitimizing a sexual act; the texts indiscriminately label as sexual assault both an obscene gesture and a caress that may have been the delicate expression of a noble and shared feeling; it extends the notion of rape, which evokes violence, fear, and pain, to polymorphous relationships that may be the natural and desired expression by a minor of an essential need for love. The terminology used reduces every relationship, even the highest in terms of feelings and respect for the partner, to the vile and destructive nature of a genuine sexual crime. It is inevitable, under these conditions, that today’s courts will make as many errors of judgment as those of the Inquisition.

46°. Relief Through Confession

It is now a commonplace belief that a victim of sexual assault will feel relief the day she dares to speak out and that she will only be able to truly live once her attacker has been convicted. The attacker himself will feel relieved upon confessing; he will only be able to face life head-on once he has paid his debt to society. These assertions are certainly justified in cases of proven rape or sexual assault, which are sources of profound anguish and trauma. However, they betray reality in the more numerous cases than one might imagine, where the relationship was experienced as an expression of mutual love. The exact opposite then occurs: the “victim” who denounces their partner under pressure from family or the prevailing moral climate will feel guilty about sending them to prison for a relationship in which they participated or which they initiated, and this guilt will weigh heavily on their entire future sexuality. The adult who confesses will alleviate the discomfort they felt for having broken the law, but will feel responsible for the family and deeply personal tragedy experienced by the minor, as well as the tragedy experienced by their own family; they will find themselves socially ruined and imprisoned like a criminal, while remaining aware that they acted out of love and to meet a fundamental need of the minor; they will see their actions distorted by a damning legal discourse against which any attempt at protest would only worsen their situation; they will find themselves condemned for an ignominy unrelated to their actual actions and forced to express remorse for a crime they do not feel they committed. Here again we find the problem of the Inquisition: confession was presented to the guilty party as the only means of obtaining absolution for a sin they were being tried to convince them of and for which they were tortured to force them to repent; their confession might save them from torture and divine punishment, but it sent them to the stake.

47°. Obscuring Reality

Classical psychoanalysis has largely demonstrated the existence of infantile sexuality. Yet, by obscuring the polymorphous nature of early drives, we continue to cling to the idea that sexual experience is only possible after maturity. It is in the name of this belief that the child-adult relationship was deemed traumatic by 19th-century psychiatrists, notably Charcot. The same assumption, largely refuted by psychoanalysis, still underlies legislation today and justifies the severity of the sentences handed down by the courts. An accused person who argues the absence of trauma or the minor’s need for love to explain their behavior would only irritate the judges and worsen the punishment. They would be accused of having taken advantage of the child’s need for love to exploit their innocence for selfish ends, an attitude even more abhorrent than that of a mere sex offender. The accused is ultimately forced, and his lawyers strongly advise him to do so, to portray himself as the psychopath who couldn’t control his impulses, hoping to obtain a little more leniency. The role he plays to save his own skin has the effect of perpetuating the fantasies that fuel the image of the pedophile and justifying the punishments prescribed by law. This is exactly what happened under the Inquisition: the accused who claimed that the voices he had heard were from God and not the Devil was considered doubly demonic. He was ordered to confess his sinister complicity so that the torture would end, his confession serving both to endorse the general fear inspired by the devil and to justify his condemnation.

48°. Judges’ Determinism

A judge who tries to restore the facts during deliberations, for example by emphasizing that the relationship in question was a romantic one and that the “victim” remained attached to the accused, is attacked by his colleagues. If he attempts to put the victim’s trauma into perspective, or if he ventures to defend the value of the freely consented child-adult relationship, he will be immediately reprimanded by his superiors and threatened with dismissal. Similarly, the inquisitor or prelate who opposed the consensus and sought to mitigate the charge of witchcraft or a sin of the flesh risked excommunication by his superiors.

49°. The Omnipresence of Evil.

In the spirit of the Inquisition, evil could lurk anywhere, hiding in the souls of sinners, and had to be relentlessly and mercilessly pursued to protect the Christian world from the devil’s grasp. Today, under the guise of prevention, we strive to watch for the slightest signs that might suggest a pedophilic act; every adult, every teacher, every priest is a potential rapist; children are taught from a very young age that danger threatens them at every moment. The protection that we claim to be establishing results in a marked deterioration of the social climate, reminiscent of the animistic anxieties of the Middle Ages. The fear of sexual violence, inscribed deep within the child’s psyche, has multiple consequences: a distorted image of the adult and the partner in general; a distorted image of sexuality, conceived as a form of potential aggression; A falsification of the child’s image of their own sexuality, particularly the denial of their Oedipal impulses, can only exacerbate the trauma; a conflictualization of feelings prevents openness to the subtleties of romantic relationships and their connection to the spiritual dimension. This situation can only worsen the endemic neurosis, whose serious consequences for individual and social quality of life are well known.

50°. Judicial Crime

The investigations, tortures, and sentences handed down by the courts of the Inquisition were presented as measures necessary for the protection of society and in accordance with divine morality. Today, measures taken against the child-adult relationship, while certainly justified in cases of rape or genuine sexual assault, appear indispensable and in accordance with public morality. Unfortunately, they conceal a lack of understanding of reality, which, through the intervention of the justice system, generates numerous unnecessary tragedies, for minors as well as for the alleged perpetrators and their families. The increased severity of penalties also contributes to the murder of minors by some rapists who panic at the prospect of being reported. Just as the harmful effects of witchcraft or lust were considered figments of the imagination, the trauma resulting from a minor’s relationship with an older person has never been objectively proven: apart from cases of violence or coercion, which are far less numerous than commonly believed, psychiatric studies have instead demonstrated that the trauma is the result of the reactions of those around the child and of judicial intervention. The psychosis that has developed around pedophilia paradoxically traps the child in neurosis and prevents them from developing their sexuality in accordance with natural laws. It is likely that the human harm caused by legal action is ultimately more serious than the harm it is supposed to protect society from. One might wonder how long it will take for the misdeeds of the modern judicial system to be recognized in the same way that the crimes of the Inquisition were acknowledged after a few centuries.