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The Persecution Process

During persecution, a lot of dirty things happen, as the following experiences show:

A young boy testified in court that two uniformed Los Angeles Police Department policemen held him over a cliff to get him to admit to having sex with a man.
How Conny broke down and told all.
Paul and his brothers have been forced to make false accusations.
The moral of Chris, a 14-year-old gay boy, was that "the only real crime in this was the way I was treated by the authorities".

But even without extremal pressure, the whole process of persecution is very dangerous for the "victim".

The fear of detection has already a negative influence on the pedosexual relation.
The discovery itself is usually unwanted by the child.
Traumatization caused by outing - the sexual orientation and desires of the child become public.
Separation from the adult friend.
Traumatization by the police interrogation, police doctors and in court.
Feelings of blame and guilt may be caused by very different reasons:
- For having consented to the sex.
- For the broken promise not to tell about.
- For false testimony in the process of persecution (f.e. I have not liked it instead of I have liked it).
Loose of trust to parents and other autorities if they have got the information from the child using false promises (like "tell it, we will find a solution in your interest"), or simply if the child had told it to a person of trust without assuming the real consequences.
In the case of incest, there are also "costs" for the non-offending parent (relational, financial, vocational, and residential) (Massat & Lundy 1998)

See results about the rate of persecution.

Penalties for sexual relations are extremal especially in English-speaking regions like US or UK.

The Butler case, an extremal penalty (21 life sentences + 10 years) for a consensual relation in Nevada.
For a massage you can get 3 1/2 year in Dade City 1988;
Even for being nude on a family photo you can get 1 year in Michigan 1995;
About the recent witch-hunt by GB police with "trawling operations" see Webster 1999;

Persecution in the internet

About internet-related activities of the FBI and their justification see Kincaid 2000.