Can child sex offenders be cured?

WHILE many would not hesitate to throw away the keys to the jail cell of Mara student Nur Fitri Azmeer Nordin who was caught with 30,000 explicit and pornographic images of children, there are a few psychologists and sexual health experts who say he might have a mental health condition that needs to be treated.

As consultant clinical andrologist and sexual health and reproductive activist Dr Mohd Ismail Mohd Tambi puts it, “Although we need to protect our children from scourges like this, if he is really diagnosed as a child pornography enthusiast or addict, which is a mental health condition, then he needs treatment too.”