Well, it's a point to remember that all abuse is about power. It's always about power and dominance. I can't tell you what it is that makes abusers go about getting power and dominance by using abuse to do it, but at its core, that's what it's always going to be about.

Some people do face consequences, some people don't, at least in a sense of true "justice." Some face the consequences of going to jail or losing custody of their kids or having their spouses divorce them, they lose their jobs, etc. Others might just lose everyone close to them, so they no longer have anyone to abuse.

I don't know, maybe I'm talking out of my ass. I try not to focus on that too much, and worry more about my healing and moving forward with my life. Sometimes it's maddening to know that abusers are free to abuse anyone (I struggled with this idea for a long time pertaining to my rapist, but I had to let it go and remember that I'm not responsible for what he does), but all we can do is keep going, and speak out when we can, and try to help those who are also suffering. Sometimes that's everything.

I don’t know about what is done for adult abusers but I briefly worked for a psychiatrist who treated youths, at youth ranches & in juvenile lockup, and majority of those patients had committed sexual and/or physical abuse crimes. This doctor was part of a state rehabilitation program for “troubled youths”. I heard of adult programs but I really have no idea if they are part of sentencing or what they are. There might be information from state resources.

One thing about youth rehabilitation that I did notice was many of these young abusers had been victims of abuse prior and sometimes it was noted in cases that the offender did not know the actions were “wrong” because of abuse they had suffered.

There isn’t anything that makes abuse of any kind acceptable nor is there any sense to it. I’ve been abused sexually, mentally, & physically by different abusers & although I spent a lot of time trying to find reasons for it happening, especially when at the hands of someone I knew & trusted, it never made the trauma any less damaging but it helped me accept that the abuse happened & it wasn’t not my fault that it happened to me. But for me, understanding the mentality behind why someone abuses another person was as far as I was willing to go. Accepting my abuse hasn’t changed the fear of abuse and my abuser, only allowed me to accept myself and not feel guilty for someone else’s crimes.

Such a mixed bag. There are the pedophiles that truly believe the child seduced them; there are those who inherited a faulty sense of normal (intergenerational); there are those who are peer influenced; there are those for whom it is a one time occurrence and they usually suicide; there are those who see children as their property; and there are psychopaths who have no empathy only their need fulfilment. There are likely some others, Most will never see what they did as wrong. That is why our focus needs to stay on us and our healing.

In my experience only?
Self-justification in the abuser means they don't think they're doing anything wrong to the other, so if they're not doing wrong, how can it have any effect (negative) on *them*?