Joël Le Scouarnec: France’s Most Prolific Predator

“I acted without any qualms and with a single objective — to commit sexual assaults as often as I could.” Those weren’t the words of a man caught in a single moment of weakness. They were the written confession of Joël Le Scouarnec, a French surgeon who spent more than 25 years preying on children under the cover of his white coat. Behind the image of a trusted doctor lay meticulous diaries, thousands of images, and the names of nearly 300 victims — many assaulted while unconscious on his operating tables.

But the horror of this case isn’t only about one man’s compulsion. It’s about the silence that protected him — families who minimized, colleagues who ignored whispers, and institutions that valued reputation over safety. For decades, every system that should have stopped him instead kept him untouchable.

This is the story of how silence becomes complicity — protecting a predator in plain sight. And when the tally was finally made, the scale was undeniable: hundreds of victims, etched into journals and confirmed in complaints, cementing this as the largest p*dophilia case in France’s history.

**Don't miss our interview about prevention. Can we prevent p*dophiles from claiming victims? Can they change? That's exactly the conversation we have with Dr. Christoffer Rahm and Colleague Allison from the Karolinska Institute of Sweden. Tune in on Friday 9/19/2025.**

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References:

Al Jazeera. (2025, May 28). French surgeon sentenced to 20 years for sex abuse of nearly 300 people. Al Jazeera Pull: 20-year maximum, mass case context.

Chrisafis, A. (2025, May 28). French surgeon who abused children for decades sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/28/french-court-sentencing-former-surgeon-joel-le-scouarnec-who-abused-children-for-decades

Reuters. (2025, May 28). Retired French surgeon gets maximum 20-year sentence for raping young patients. Reuters Pull: 299 victims; anesthesia context; prior 2020 sentence; medical ban/registry; system failures post-2005 conviction.

Le Monde (Aubenas, F.). (2025, May 29). Former surgeon Le Scouarnec handed 20-year sentence… Le Monde.fr Pull: Admits to 299 counts; “worst child abuse case” framing.

PBS NewsHour. (2025, May 28). French pedophile sentenced to 20 years… PBS Pull: Max sentence; hundreds of patients.

FranceInfo. (2025). Qui est Joël Le Scouarnec, l’ancien chirurgien soupçonné de pédophilie et d’agressions sexuelles sur plus de 250 patients. FranceInfo. https://www.franceinfo.fr/faits-divers/affaire-le-scouarnec/qui-est-joel-le-scouarnec-l-ancien-chirurgien-soupconne-de-pedophilie-et-d-agressions-sexuelles-sur-