As the world gains a small insight into the extent of organised child abuse, we, as a civilisation, face a decision. How should we respond?
In part, deciding how to respond to a global paedophile network is hampered by the vulgarity of the crimes in question. It is stomach-turning. It is not something any of us wants to think about or look directly at.
We need to look hard to gain accountability
But we must look at it if we are to decide how far we should push for justice. Is it enough that those committing the acts themselves face justice? Or do we need to examine every part of government, the media, and our institutions, and root out every person involved in either the act or the cover-up?
The relevance of these questions hit home last week when I was at work. Out of a patient complement of around 30, there were two patients there due solely to the secondary effects of child abuse.
The long-term effects
Bear in mind, I don’t work in psychiatry. I work in medicine. Acute medicine. And here we are decades after the abuse, and the victims are still suffering the physical consequences of that abuse.
I knew from the medical history alone that the first patient had been severely abused. Multiple scars from self-harming, severe self-neglect with bed ulcers and missing teeth that had never been replaced, and a palpable helplessness. Then a look at the medication list: anxiolytic, antidepressant, anti-psychotic, and sleeping tablets. Then a brief look at the emergency room attendances: a catalogue of suicide attempts – some cries for help, others a clear attempt to bring it all to an end.
The abuse had happened over 30 years ago, but it still had a hold over her. It was still destroying her. Indeed, it was clear from this admission that it would likely kill her, at an all too young an age.
The next patient was a guy who had taken the effects of the abuse another way. He had lived with it longer than she had. He had been alive during the times when such patients were assigned heavy-duty mental health diagnoses – schizophrenia or some other primary mental illness. Heavily medicated, often debilitatingly suspicious, and so emotionally flat that it was difficult to imagine him enjoying any part of his solitary life.
Child abuse destroys lives
And when I say destroys, I mean destroys every part of life.
Don’t get me wrong, some victims of child abuse can adapt and affect some degree of self-healing. Such people, in my experience, are often the best of us; they endure the worst of humanity and decide to act compassionately anyway. They have managed to trust people enough to love and laugh despite justifiable reasons not to. But for many, there is no way past that time when they were abandoned by the very adults who were meant to protect them. They are, understandably, stuck at the worst point of their lives – of anyone’s life.
This is the damage to the individual – immeasurable, pervasive, and enduring.
Societal damage
Then there is the damage to society. Not everyone who is abused turns the horrors inwards. Some reflect the horror back into the world.
Nearly half of all violent criminals have a history of child abuse. Some go on to be abusers themselves.
Child abusers tear at the very fabric of our shared humanity. They create hell on earth for their victims and, at times, their victims’ victims. All that we have built – justice, health, education, community – erode. We are forced to create reams of policies to guard against this ‘minority of evil’.
The Epstein files
They also inject a general and pervasive mistrust amongst the rest of us. Kids walking home from school, or going into town, or accepting a treat from a stranger are now saturated with the knowledge that such abusers operate in our society. We are more wary of each other because of them.
And now, with what the Epstein files have revealed, we must add to all this destruction the blackmail and coercion that seems central to the Epstein Network. We now have politicians, journalists, public figures, and others whose perversions have been captured on video and email. They are compromised and are effectively owned by whoever owns the material evidence of their perversions and crimes.
The power game
The extent of the damage to society is far-reaching, but ultimately unknown. What decisions were made (are still being made), not based on what is good for the public, but what is directed by the blackmailer? Who has control over our leaders? We simply don’t know.
It is difficult to find a more destructive network than that built by Epstein. Thousands of lives ruined. Victims now forced to live with what evil he and his wealthy, ‘privileged’ clients subjected them to. That, on its own, should prompt a furious response from our leaders and our criminal justice systems. At least it should, from those who don’t share such depraved mindsets.
Twin toxicity – power and paedophilia
Add to this the far-reaching consequences of paedophilia to society, and the coercion of those with significant influence on our shared public spaces, leaves us with no choice but to press for maximum punishment. The consequences of failing to prosecute those involved are catastrophic.
If we allow those with power and money and status to get off with lighter sentences or simply losing their job, for crimes that destroy lives and society, then the message we are sending to anyone with the warped paedophile mindset is – the safest place for you to operate is in public office, or media, or business. The best way for you to get away with abusing children is to ascend to positions of power. The opposite should be true.
If you are in a position of power and use that to abuse children, then the punishment must be greater. You have abused the trust we have placed in you. You have contaminated the office you hold. Punishment is then due for both the crime of destroying a life and the crime of perverting the office you hold.
Enough is enough
It is hard not see this moment as an inflection point. We can send a message to all those who would harm our children. We can also send a message to those elitists who think they can act in whatever depraved way they wish because they believe they are above the law. We can send a ripple through our political system that there is zero tolerance for child abusers.
No, the Epstein files aren’t going anywhere. They are just the beginning.
This article was first published by Dr. Dan Goyal in his Substack on 10 February 2026.
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