In law enforcement circles, the term pedophile is sometimes used informally to refer to any person who commits one or more sexually-based crimes that relate to legally underage victims. These crimes may include child sexual abuse, statutory rape, offenses involving child pornography, child grooming, stalking, and indecent exposure. One unit of the United Kingdoms Child Abuse Investigation Command is known as the "Paedophile Unit" and specializes in online investigations and enforcement work. Some forensic science texts, such as Holmes (2008), use the term to refer to offenders who target child victims, even when such children are not the primary sexual interest of the offender. FBI agent Kenneth Lanning, however, makes a point of distinguishing between pedophiles and child molesters. Civil and legal commitment
In the United States, following Kansas v. Hendricks, sex offenders who have certain mental disorders, including pedophilia, can be subject to indefinite civil commitment under various state laws (generically called SVP laws) and the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.
Do particular genes or noxious factors in the prenatal environment predispose a male to develop both affective disorders and pedophilia, or do the frustration, danger, and isolation engendered by unacceptable sexual desires—or their occasional furtive satisfaction—lead to anxiety and despair?" They indicated that, because they previously found mothers of pedophiles to be more likely to have undergone psychiatric treatment, the genetic possibility is more likely.A study analyzing the sexual fantasies of 200 heterosexual men by using the Wilson Sex Fantasy Questionnaire exam determined that males with a pronounced degree of paraphilic interest (including pedophilia) had a greater number of older brothers, a high 2D:4D digit ratio (which would indicate low prenatal androgen exposure), and an elevated probability of being left-handed, suggesting that disturbed hemispheric brain lateralization may play a role in deviant attractions. Diagnosis
DSM and ICD-11
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5) has a significantly larger diagnostic features section for pedophilia than the previous DSM version, the DSM-IV-TR, and states, "The diagnostic criteria for pedophilic disorder are intended to apply both to individuals who freely disclose this paraphilia and to individuals who deny any sexual attraction to prepubertal children (generally age 13 years or younger), despite substantial objective evidence to the contrary." Like the DSM-IV-TR, the manual outlines specific criteria for use in the diagnosis of this disorder.