I find it quite heartening that child-abusers and paedophiles are ill-treated in prisons and other such criminal institutions.

Because it reflects, quite simply, that amongst all that grime and filth, amongst all the vice and sin, there is still that basic respect for the powerful innocence of a child. Even the worst crimminals have had childhoods, even they lament what it once was to be carefree and innocent. Such repulsion to those who would defile that purity is actually something quite comforting, especially amongst what is supposedly the uncivillized, inhumane and primal segment of society.

Perhaps no one is ever incorrigible. There is always the child to appeal to.