Discussing
Sundance Dispatch #2: Confession and community in Pervert Park

TC editor Josh Larsen reports from Sundance on the confessional nature of the documentary Pervert Park.

I haven't seen this film, but one thing to note is that those who sexually abuse, even those who perpetrate abuse against children, are not "monsters". They can be friendly, charming people, people just like you and me - and that's what makes it so difficult to believe stories accusing them of unimaginable, horrific behavior. We must pay careful attention to our tendency to disbelieve. We must be willing to hear stories that are painful and true.

Any healing is possible only after the offending behavior has been fully acknowledged. Accountability in community can help prevent re-offense and future harm on the long and difficult road toward healing.

Thanks for your comment, Bonnie. To your last point: I don't recall the exact figure, but the doc stated that the recidivism rate for the residents of Palace Mobile Home Park was well below the average for sex offenders.

This is such a beautiful, sensitive post, Josh. I really, really love that at least one filmmaker has taken this particular social issue to task in such an obviously poignant way.

There is an ironic tension that the victim-turned-offender Tracy represents: sin has a way of perpetuating itself, and only grace can break that cycle. Only by sacrificially extending wholly unmerited favor can we begin to break the cycle of victimization that sex offenses uniquely represent among crimes against society. It's only when a victim chooses--against all odds and retributive "rights"--to lay down the desire to punish and to desire instead the reformation of the offender that real healing happens.

I don't know if this filmmaker is Christian or not, but what he or she has managed to capture sounds an awful lot like the mysterious grace of God in Christ. In choosing to take upon himself the awful consequences of our sin, Jesus made possible something punishment alone could never achieve for the sinner: a redemption that both heals and makes whole.