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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

A List of Potential Calamities That Frighten Americans Most

Aired April 25, 2005 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


RUDI BAHKTIAR, GUEST HOST: Thank you, Lou.
Good evening, everyone.

Sexual predators, drugs, terrorism: what do Americans fear the most?

We're going to take a special look at what you say are your five biggest concerns.

ANNOUNCER: Black market nukes: how easy would it be for al Qaeda to get its hands on the materials to make a nuclear bomb? Experts are sounding the alarm. Hear why they say no one is listening.

Heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, marijuana: how concerned are you about drugs in your community? We sort through which drugs you fear the most.

Hundreds of thousands of sexual predators living free and may be near your family. But has public hysteria gone too far? We take a look at the thin line between vigilante justice and keeping your kids safe.

And lives being lost in deadly violence. Tonight one of America's biggest fears, violent crime.

Anderson Cooper gets rare access inside one of the deadliest gang communities in America and asks, what drives them to kill?

Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is a special edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

BAKHTIAR: Good evening and welcome, everyone. I'm Rudi Bakhtiar. Anderson has the night off.

From suicide bombers to sexual predators this is a very dangerous world we live in, and there is plenty for American's to be concerned about. Tonight we're going to look at what we call our biggest fears, the things you said you're most concerned about right now. We're going to tell you what they are and we're going to take an in depth look at each of the top five in this hour.

We're going to start with terrorism. According to a newly released CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll 36 percent of those polled said they are very concerned about it. And terror experts have one worry above all, the nightmare scenario of terrorists smuggling a nuclear bomb into this country -- something that may be far easier than you could possibly imagine.

CNN's David Mattingly has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY: Macau, a small island in the South China Sea. Once a Portuguese colony now controlled by China. For decades Macau has been the seedy underbelly of Asia, a steamy neon-slathered gateway to the international underworld. It's a place where Chinese gangs came to spread violence and North Koreans spies learned how to operate in the West.

Today, it is a place where tourists come to test their luck in the casinos and to satisfy other urges in the arms of prostitutes. But look more deeply into the shadows and some say you will likely find a base of operations for a sophisticated North Korean smuggling network that in the past moved drugs, counterfeit money, and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

MATTHEW BURN, MANAGING THE ATOM PROJECT: North Korea is a country that has a history of selling any weapon it had to virtually anyone who would buy.

MATTINGLY: So could a terrorist group come to Macau shopping for nuclear material, and would the North Koreans sell it to them? The experts that study the threat fear the answer could be yes. In fact, they say the transaction would be surprisingly simple. A North Korean agent operating unnoticed slips into one of the hundreds of bars. He meets an al Qaeda middleman. He makes an exchange. Then the al Qaeda operative heads into the night getting lost amongst the tourists and the prostitutes on the prowl. All it takes is a small bag like this, big enough to easily hold enough highly enriched uranium or plutonium to incinerate the core of an American city.

BURN: The amount of plutonium you would need for a nuclear bomb would fit easily in a Coke can.

MATTINGLY: Matthew Burn studies the security or insecurity of the world's nuclear material.

BURN: It is very plausible that a well-organized and sophisticated terrorist group might be able to put together a crude, nuclear bomb.

GRAHAM ALLISON, FMR. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL If we keep doing today what we're doing the likelihood is more likely than not.

MATTINGLY: Graham Allison, a Harvard professor and former Defense Department official warns in a new book that we are dangerously vulnerable to a terrorist nuclear attack.

ALLISON: No event like this has happened in American history. This would make 9/11 seem like a you know, a toothache.

MATTINGLY: Steve Flynn has been studying for years long before 9/11 how terrorists might attack the U.S. with a weapon of mass destruction.

STEVEN FLYNN, ANALYST: The reality is the Central Intelligence Agency has said the more likely way a weapon of mass destruction will come into the United States is in a ship and likely to be in a shipping container.

MATTINGLY: Most about the size of the typical truck trailer containers like these are the vehicles of choice on the super highway of international trade. The busiest container port in the world is Hong Kong -- just an hour away from Macau. Despite many efforts made by the U.S. and other governments and private industries since 9/11 experts like Flynn say containers are America's Achilles heel.

FLYNN: There are between 16 and 18 million containers worldwide. Where anybody can get a container, ordered to their home or workplace, they can load it up. You close it off. You put a 50 cent lead seal with a number on it and then you hand it to a transportation provider, somebody you may not otherwise invite into your home.

MATTINGLY: Flynn's new book, "America the Vulnerable," is a stark warning. The U.S. government admits there was a problem, but says it is moving quickly to fix it.

TOM RIDGE, FORMER SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: In the past efforts to secure this vast global industry, both here in the United States and throughout the world, were isolated, they were scattered, and they were uncoordinated. The United States and the United States Coast Guard recognized the problem and took specific actions to secure our homeland and the global economy.

MATTINGLY: But despite these efforts, Steve Flynn and others argue containers could still be the poor man's nuclear missile.

(on camera): Will we know what is in the boxes?

FLYNN: I don't think you'll -- you'll know for certainty on ever single container.

JOHN MEREDITH, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF HUTCHISON PORT HOLDINGS: This one of the old cameras or one of the new ones?

MATTINGLY: John Meredith moves more boxes than anyone else in the world, 44 million a year. He's a managing director of Hutchison Port Holdings, the largest port operator in the world with 44 facilities in 17 countries. And Meredith is very worried about what could be put into one of those boxes.

MEREDITH: So many millions and millions and millions of products are coming, flowing into the country and no one at the moment is tracing where they came from and tracking how they got there.

MATTINGLY: Meredith says companies like his are ready and able to improve container security with the devices like X-ray machines, radio seals on containers and radiological detectors. But, he says, the U.S. government needs to set a uniform standard for all companies shipping containers into U.S. ports. There's no one person or one agency in charge. Responsibility for container security lies across multiple agencies.

MEREDITH: The ports are now secured. But what is not secured is the supply chain -- the movement of the boxes through the system -- and that is the Trojan horse.

MATTINGLY: And if the Trojan horse, a nuclear device inside a container were detonated, ports would shut down and so would the global economy.

MEREDITH: If you shut those down for a period of two to three weeks, we shut down the global trade system. That's what we're talking about playing with here.

David Mattingly, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: Next on this special edition of 360 we're counting down America's five biggest fears. Anderson Cooper takes you inside one of America's most dangerous neighborhood.

Plus, throwing it all away for drugs. Robert Downey Jr., a case study in addiction out of control.

Also tonight, inside the mind of a sex offender. Our 360 M.D. Dr. Sanjay Gupta goes beyond the headlines to find out what makes them tick.

First your picks of the top stories on CNN.com right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to this special edition of 360.

Our five greatest fears, the fourth, according to a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll is violent crime: 52 percent of Americans say they are very concerned about it. But, according to the Justice Department, violent crime has been dropping since 1994, and in 2003, hit its lowest level ever recorded. Yet, in places, the violence is getting worse and the threat, only bigger. Anderson spent two months in one gang-infested community in Los Angeles going "Beyond the Headlines" for a very rare look at a very dangerous world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIKI, WHITE FENCE GANG MEMBER: We're entering the zone, now.

I walk around with a tattoo on my head. I'm a target. I have a (INAUDIBLE). That should tell you everything.

COOPER: Kiki is 26, a proud member of White Fence, one of Hollenbecks (ph) 34 gangs. The police say there are now 700 White Fence members and associates.

KIKI (RAPPING): Pick up the 40 automatic, let him have it, getting rid of static, who's the baddest? COOPER: Gangsters, who claim to be go guardians of the neighborhood. Kiki says he's been shot three times.

KIKI: I got a 10 in the morning drive-by.

You know, when you get shot, you're like, damn. People are just screaming, aah, you're going to be all right. I'm like, damn -- they look at me -- damn, I'm in the hospital. I got shot in my arm.

COOPER: Kiki was 14 when he joined White Fence. He was jumped in, beaten up by fellow gang members. It's a common initiation meant to test loyalty and give new members a taste of what gang life is all about.

For Kiki, who spent time in foster, care the gang was everything he hoped for, friends, family, and fights.

KIKI: When I was in junior high, that was really what we used to go to school for, to pick a fight. So I was nuts to bust, too. But that was it.

COOPER: His status in the gang grew along with his juvenile record.

KIKI: Guns, drugs, assault, attempted murder, gang banging, everything.

COOPER: Some people would say it's wrong to be in a gang. It's wrong to sell drugs, gang bang, whatever.

KIKI: Well, sell drugs, it's just like -- I mean, if we don't do it, someone else is going to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, I got my last name on my back.

COOPER: Older game members, veteranos, schooled Kiki in the odd logic of gang morality and the rules of engagement. Drive-by shootings are OK as long as they don't kill innocent kids.

KIKI: That's a no-no. I mean, damn, they don't know right from wrong.

COOPER: And if a homeboy is killed, gang members should take the law into their own hands.

KIKI: The cops, they got so many murders on their hand. I mean, we rather take our own actions.

One of my friends died right here protecting the bridge. So, this is one of the places we can't let go.

COOPER: Though he joined a gang for a sense of belonging, 12 years later Kiki now finds himself alone. Most of his friends are in prison or dead.

I don't quite get the appeal of being in a gang right now for you.

KIKI: This is all I've got. I don't got no -- nothing else. I don't come home to nothing else.

COOPER: Kiki passes time tattooing, a skill he picked up in jail. He has no full-time job, but takes classes at a community college. He's on probation for selling crack.

So, like, 10 years from now, what do you think you'll be doing?

KIKI: I don't know. I don't think ahead like that. I just -- I just go day by day.

COOPER: Kiki does think about putting his fighting skills to use. Inspired by one of his favorite movies, "Full Metal Jacket," he talks about joining the Marines.

KIKI: I think that's the best route for us. That would be the best route for society. I would rather die a hero than, you know, die a statistic.

COOPER: But with his criminal record, joining the Marines is just a fantasy. A fantasy he's fighting to hold on to.

Anderson Cooper, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: In case you are wondering, tonight's list stems from a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll conducted by telephone in February. Pollsters asked about a thousand Americans how concerned they were about the five fears we're addressing tonight, and then ranked those fears according to the responses.

We are also tracking a number of other stories for us tonight -- cross-country -- Erica Hill joining us from HEADLINE NEWS with the latest. Hey, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS: Hey Rudi, good to see you.

We start off in Texas. President Bush pressing the Saudis to boost oil production in an effort to ease high gas prices here in the U.S. At his Texas ranch, Mr. Bush met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdulla. It's a key meeting, since the Saudis are the worlds top oil exporter. Abdulla and his delegation presented a long-term plan to increase production by 2010, but made no promises on short-term output.

In Warrenton, Georgia, the bodies of two missing children have been found in a pond just a few hundred yards from their home. Two- year-old Nicole Payne and her three-year-old brother Jonah have been missing since Saturday. Autopsies are planned.

New York, now, where Martha Stewart's night out is under investigation. Federal probation officials are looking into whether Stewart violated terms of her house arrest by attending a magazine gala last week. Probation officials did approve her request to attend the event, but now, are questioning whether that should have been done.

Sayreville, New Jersey, no, not just home to Bon Jovi but also a little something stuck in a tree, next to a house. What is it, you ask? Nothing but a bear, a 240-pound bear. Wildlife officials used ropes to get it down after shooting it with a tranquilizer. Tonight, the bear is roaming a nonresidential area. Some people call it the woods.

And, Rudi, that's the latest from HEADLINE NEWS right now. I'll send it back to you.

BAKHTIAR: All right, thank you, Erica. See you again in about 30 minutes.

Coming up next on this special edition of 360, "America's Five Biggest Fears." What scares you the most? Addiction out of control: find out how drugs took over the life of Robert Downey ,Jr. Fame and fortune thrown out the window for the next fix. Also tonight, crystal meth in the heartland, babies caught in the cross fire, rural families destroyed.

And a little later, inside the mind of a sex offender. Can they be cured or should they be locked away for life? What is America's biggest fear. Stay with us to find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to this special edition of 360: "Our Five Biggest Fears." We're counting them down and we're now at number three. Cocaine. The concern might be justified. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, cocaine is the second most commonly used illegal drug in the United States -- marijuana being the first -- yet the National Drug Intelligence Center says that cocaine is the primary drug threat in this country, in part because of its widespread use, high overdose rate and connection to violence. A government study published a couple of years ago found that nearly 35 million people age 12 and older had tried cocaine at least once in their lifetimes, and that includes celebrities.

Kyra Phillips takes a look at Robert Downey Jr.'s very public struggle with a cocaine addiction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN PENN, ACTOR: His particular case concerns me a great deal, because he's somebody I know personally, care a great deal about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I told you if you violated this round of probation, you would go back to jail, and that's where you're going.

PENN: I think he's a poster boy for the fact that prison doesn't cure it.

ROBERT SHAPIRO, ATTORNEY: I am shocked and saddened by the sentence today. I think it is wrong. I do not think it meets the aims of justice. It does not serve the community. It certainly does not serve Mr. Downey.

QUESTION: Can you characterize the mood and the state of Mr. Downey right now?

DANIEL BROOKMAN, ATTORNEY: Mr. Downey is very optimistic. He's upbeat about this. He's committed to moving on with his life.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A life which in recent years has been plagued with deep personal problems.

In 1996, the actor violated his probation when he fled from a detox center, his rehab stemming from several drug and weapons arrests. But a judge sent him back.

A year later, he skipped a court-ordered drug test and spent the next four months in the L.A. County Jail.

1999, Downey skipped another drug test and was sent back to rehab. But this time, a judge gave Downey hard time -- state prison for nearly one year.

ROBERT DOWNEY JR., ACTOR: You toughen up a little bit when you're in lockdown. Either that, or you read a bunch of books and eat a bunch of Jolly Ranchers. But I decided to toughen up a bit.

PHILLIPS: Thanksgiving weekend 2000, just four months after his release from state prison, Downey was busted again -- this time in Palm Springs for cocaine possession and being under the influence of drugs.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges. A July 2001 court date was set. Downey remained free awaiting trial.

Despite all his legal problems, despite his repeated pattern of relapsing into drug use, Hollywood kept taking Downey back.

MICHAEL CHIKLIS, ACTOR: Hollywood has got a real short memory, you know. Well, because, you know, to a degree it lives up to its cliche, that it's vacuous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The interesting thing is that he never really had a problem in terms of his career and the drugs. It was always between jobs that he would have the problem.

PHILLIPS: April 2001, Robert Downey was arrested yet again, this time in an alley outside a Culver City, California motel, allegedly under the influence of a controlled substance. Results from a voluntary urine test found that Downey had cocaine in his system the night of his arrest.

July 13th, Robert Downey Jr.'s day in court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Downey, I want to tell you, this is not a gift. PHILLIPS: Days before the trial, the California legislature passed Proposition 36, a law calling for treatment rather than jail time for nonviolent drug offenders. Downey got three years probation and was ordered to continue his treatment.

JAMES EPSTEIN, DOWNEY'S ATTORNEY: He is very motivated to overcome the problem he has. And we're all very encouraged.

PHILLIPS: Court officials were also encouraged. At the actor's hearing of July of 2002, positive probation reports ended his three- year probation.

PETER CASTRO, "TIME" MAGAZINE: It's impossible to tell with Robert Downey, Jr. if this is really the last time, because he has disappointed us so many times. But that said, he seems like he's really together and on the road to recovery finally.

PHILLIPS: As Downey moves on with his life and his career, he is dealing with his addiction with humor.

DOWNEY JR.: What has always been funny to me is people say, you know, shouldn't -- shouldn't the boy really move out of Hollywood and kind of be a tree hugger, location, Seattle and (INAUDIBLE).

You know, right now, the ominous feeling of, you know, I'll remember this horrible time as the good old days.

PHILLIPS: The question that only Robert Downey Jr. can answer. Are there good days ahead?

DOWNEY JR.: Things are a little different now than they were a couple of years ago. You know, I'll just keep doing what I have to do to keep it that way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: And coming up next on the special edition of 360, "America's Five Biggest Fears." What worries you the most? We're going beyond the headlines to find out. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to this special edition of "360." Tonight, we're taking a closer look at what concerns you and your family most, our greatest fears.

We began at number five with terrorism, followed by violent crime and cocaine. That brings us to our second biggest fear, also a drug. Crystal methamphetamine.

Like cocaine, crystal meth is powerful, popular and deadly. But unlike the white powder, crystal meth is cheap and easy to make. In fact, the recipe often includes everyday household items, like cleaners and cold medicines. And that's why it destroys so many families. And it's not just the users who are paying the price. CNN's Randi Kaye reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thornton, Colorado, 10 miles outside Denver, a drug raid under way. But this bust will reveal more than just drugs -- a victim, one you wouldn't expect.

His name is Brandon, just 18 months, exposed to a world no child should ever see. Brandon and his mother are in this home where the drug methamphetamine is being made. It's a meth lab. Right next to Brandon's toys, deadly chemicals. His mother reaches out to him to assure him, but it's too late. His mother is arrested, later convicted for drug possession and child abuse.

This little boy now faces a tough journey. He's not the only one.

(on camera): According to the National Alliance for Drug endangered Children, kids are found in more than 30 percent of meth labs raided nationwide. It also says most women who are meth cooks are of childbearing age. And when a pregnant woman gets high on meth, so does her baby.

(voice-over): This is what a meth baby looks like. Premature, hooked on meth, and suffering the pangs of withdrawal. They don't want to eat or sleep, and the simplest things cause great pain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She would cry when she would have her diaper changed, because it was so tender and sore.

KAYE: This baby's bottom is burned. When her mother inhaled meth, so did she. Now every time the baby goes to the bathroom, the acids from the meth in her system burn her own skin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her buttocks actually is bleeding.

KAYE: Ron Mullins is a cop turned coordinator with the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children. During his years on the street, he shut down hundreds of meth labs. Today, he helps states care for children of meth.

RON MULLINS, NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR ENDANGERED CHILDREN: These children are being raised in homes that are absolutely filthy. There's rotting food everywhere. There is animal and human feces everywhere. It's deplorable conditions.

KAYE: Look into the eyes of this woman. You'll see a life full of drugs, abuse, neglect and violence.

Her name is Tiffany. She asked that we not use her last name. She says she has been around meth since she was a young child, a meth addict since her early teens. She is also a mom, who chose drugs over her own children.

TIFFANY, METH ADDICT: I could never make that more important than getting another dose.

KAYE: At 25, Tiffany says she is clean. She was hooked on methamphetamine for a decade.

It's like speed, but far more addictive. On the street, they call it ice, glass, or crank. Some women take it to lose weight; others to help them get chores done, and some like Tiffany, because she didn't know any better.

TIFFANY: Your heart just, you know, starts racing, you know, 200 beats a minute. And then your legs get weak, and you try to get up and walk around, but you're not going to walk straight for a few minutes. And then, you know, after about 30 minutes, the rush is gone and you are just up and you are just wide open, 90 miles an hour.

KAYE (on camera): How long had you gone at some point without sleep?

TIFFANY: I think the most I'd ever stayed up was right at three weeks.

KAYE (voice-over): Tiffany tried meth for the first time when she was 12. She snorted it.

(on camera): And do you remember the first time what it felt like?

TIFFANY: I remember it burned. It hurt.

KAYE (voice-over): At 15, Tiffany had her first child, Terrell (ph), but meth was still her baby. She'd hit the street searching for the next party, the next high, gone weeks at a time. Family members looked after her son.

TIFFANY: It's really sad to say this, but my son had gotten so used to it, he had quit worrying about me.

KAYE: And she quit worrying about herself.

Then she got pregnant again. Even that didn't stop her from taking the drug.

TIFFANY: I think I was almost three months pregnant when I found out I was pregnant, and I had been using pretty heavily.

KAYE: Her daughter Audrey (ph) is now almost three.

TIFFANY: I wouldn't shoot up in front of them. I wouldn't smoke in front of them. I would hide in the bathroom, but my son always knew something was going on.

I think how a child turns out has got to do a lot with their parents. And you know, what I was shown was how I turned out to be.

KAYE: Tiffany's mom was arrested and charged in 2003 with running a meth lab. She has not yet entered a plea.

TIFFANY: For a long time, I wanted to blame her for everything. KAYE: But now, Tiffany blames herself, at least for what she did to her kids. This photo was taken on the night she was arrested for possession of meth. The night her life started to turn around.

TIFFANY: It's real hard to look back at what I did to my kids.

KAYE: Jail sobered Tiffany, gave her time to reflect. It forced her into recovery, something she still struggles with two-and-a-half years later.

(on camera): Do you feel you have broken the cycle in your family?

TIFFANY: I hope so.

I'm watching you, baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: Since our story first aired in February, Tiffany has successfully graduated from a drug court program in Georgia, and that means that she has been able to stay clean. According to her drug coordinator, she is doing well. Congratulations, Tiffany.

Now, crystal meth just doesn't damage your mind; it destroys it. Here's a fast fact for you. According to "The Journal of Neuroscience," regular meth users lose about 1 percent of their brain cells every year. That's about the same amount of brain cells lost by someone with Alzheimer's disease.

Next on this special edition of 360, our biggest fears. We're counting them down for you. 360 MD Sanjay Gupta takes us inside the mind of a predator.

Plus, what can happen if our fears go too far? Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to this special edition of 360: "Our Five Biggest Fears." All this hour, we've been counting them down for you. We're now at the number one fear, the sexual molestation of children. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they are very concerned about it in a CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll.

There have been a number of highly publicized cases just in the last few weeks of children allegedly being attacked and killed by sexual predators. 360 MD Sanjay Gupta showing us what drives such an obsession.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

"STEVEN," CONVICTED PEDOPHILE: It involves several young male boys, over a period of time, from the time I was about 20 to 47, 48 years old. And it wasn't a continuous thing. It was something that went like a broken tire, a flat tire in a car. You'd go along and things would be OK, and then you'd hit the flat spot and you would abuse.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's no doubt this 52-year-old man is a pedophile. The bigger question, is he a criminal or a patient?

"STEVEN": I'm the guy that's going to take the long way around a group of kids in a shopping mall.

GUPTA: "Steven," who asked for his name to be changed and to be interviewed in silhouette, spent three years in prison after being convicted of acts of pedophilia as a crime. Today, he's being treated for pedophilia as an illness.

Admittedly, it is blurry. Increasingly we medicalize bad behavior. Alcoholism, violence, even murder may all be due to imbalances of chemicals in the brain. But the risk is we may let criminals pay a lesser price for monstrous deeds or punish patients for whom treatment could prevent future crimes.

"STEVEN": It's not a disease, as it's not a bacteria or a virus, it is a mental illness. OK? It's a cognitive dysfunction that people can get. Is somebody born with it? Some people might be born with it.

GUPTA: As for "Steven" himself, he's not sure whether he was born with it. He is sure that for almost 30 years he molested more than a dozen children. It was only the combined force of the police, court and prison that could break "Steven's" cycle of abuse. Pedophilia has been a diagnosable mental illness for decades, simply defined as an abnormal sexual attraction for children.

And while there are no brain scans or blood tests to confirm the diagnoses, there is a battery of treatments, ranging from psychotherapy to antidepressants to forms of chemical castration with anti-androgens, aimed at reducing testosterone and sex drive.

DR. PAUL FEDOROFF, "STEVEN'S" PSYCHIATRIST: The aim of treatment in pedophilia is not for people to stop having sex, but rather to modify their sexual interests so that they become non-criminal.

GUPTA: "Steven's" course involves two strategies, antidepressants to curb sex drive and psychotherapy to understand why he has abused. Now six years after being convicted, he says he no longer thinks of children sexually.

"STEVEN": I don't spend enough time thinking about them to have fantasies. So, it's like a guillotine coming down. There's a child. I remember terrible things happened. I don't want to go there, clank, done, out of it. Let's change our thought pattern, go someplace else.

GUPTA: But can treatment work for everyone? Can pedophilia ever really be cured? Many are cautious, including Dr. Gene Abel, Director of Behavioral Medicine at Emory University.

DR. GENE ABEL, BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE INSTITUTE: Rheumatoid arthritis never goes away. Congestive heart failure is never cured. Diabetes is never cured. This is not cured. This behavior, inappropriate behavior, is not cured. We just help the person stop this behavior.

"STEVEN": I would say when you get to the definition of cured being I don't want to, I don't feel like it and I have no interest, if that's your definition of cured, then you have got a lot of people out there that have been cured. If your definition of to be cured, never ever having had a peacekeepers thought in your life, then there is no cure. An alcoholic isn't a drunk if he never drinks again, all right? Is he cured? Well might as well be.

GUPTA: As far as pedophiles go, though, for now, at least, they will be treated as both patients and criminals.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: All right. Let's check out some other news of the day. Erica Hill joining us from HEADLINE NEWS with the latest.

Hello, Erica.

HILL: Hello again to you Rudi. We start off with 14 reputed mob figures. At this point indicted today on charges of plotting, at least, 18 murders over the past few decades. Agents in three states have been rounding up -- pardon me, the defendants. But say that, some, including long-time mob leader Joey "The Clown" Lombardo (ph) have been hard to find.

Outside Osaka, Japan the country's deadliest rail accident in more than 40 years, at least, 69 people killed, 441 injured when a commuter train jumped the tracks and crashed into an apartment building this morning. Railway officials are checking the train's brakes to see if they were working correctly.

In Santa Maria, California, Michael Jackson's ex-wife is set to testify. The judge says Debbie Rowe can take the stand for the prosecution in the singer's molestation trial. Prosecutors say she was under duress earlier when she praised Jackson as a good father in a videotape. The defense says the prosecution is desperate.

And that is the latest from HEADLINE NEWS at this hour. With that, Rudi, we'll send it back to you.

BAKHTIAR: All right. Thank you very much, Erica.

Coming up next on 360, on this special edition, our five biggest fears. How concerned over this sexual offender -- concerned people that is may have gone too far. We're going to tell you and let you decide next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to the special edition of 360. Tonight we've been covering America's five biggest fears. Child molestation is the top concern, according to a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallop poll. Yet, the chances of your child being abducted, and then sexually assaulted and murdered by a stranger are very rare. A government study found each year more than 58,000 U.S. children are abducted by non-family members, but only 100 of those are taken by a complete stranger. Of that 100, about 40 are murdered. That may lead some to question whether our fears are out of line with reality.

CNN's Rick Sanchez reports on how one community's efforts to keep their children safe may have led to unintended results.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK ELMHORST: The county sheriff confirms a father's worst fear.

SHERIFF JEFF DAWSY: Jessica Lunsford's body has been discovered.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The horror of the crime was out there for the whole world to see -- on television, radio, print, and especially which by word of mouth.

CINDY BRILL, RESIDENT: And I work in one of the local hospitals and it was the topic of conversation every morning and every evening throughout the day as we were updated or read the newspaper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The worst-case scenario became a heartbreaking reality.

JACKIE CALLAWAY, REPORTER: The sheriff's office had identified her body.

SANCHEZ: Not one, but two Florida girls from the same general area killed by sexual offenders. The first, nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford, taken in the middle of the night found buried in a shallow grave clutching her stuffed dolphin. The second, 13-year-old Sarah Lunde taken after return everything a church outing, found weighed down and partially disrobed at the bottom of a murky pond.

DEBBIE PARDEE, RESIDENT: I personally was horrified. I have an eight-year-old and 16-year-old; I feared for them immediately.

SANCHEZ: Ocala, Florida, is about an hour-and-a-half drive from the place where both girls were found murdered -- crimes that created a mood of fear and caution. People were holding on to their kids just a little tighter. So, when they heard a convicted sex offender was living among them, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think a lot of people were sick, just sick and saddened, by what they heard. And I think they still are, and in shock.

SANCHEZ: County Commissioner Randy Harris is a tough-minded politician who makes no excuses for his proposal to identify and label all sex offenders with signs and posters. RANDY HARRIS, MARION COUNTY COMMISSIONER: I believe that the county commission should post signs in neighborhoods and inform the public of where these people actually reside, because they are residing in a neighborhood where people simply don't know.

SANCHEZ: In this central Florida town that proudly displays its red, white, and blue, the people see this issue as black and white, cut and dry. A sex offender should simply not be allowed to conceal himself. Parents need to be told about them so they can protect their children.

What happens, though, if there are mitigating circumstances? If one case is different perhaps from others? Maybe, just maybe, it's not so black and white.

CHUCK CLAXTON, VICTIM'S FATHER: He was a threat to no one but himself. Absolutely no one.

SANCHEZ: Must be pretty painful, Chuck.

CLAXTON: Sorry.

SANCHEZ: Chuck Claxton cries when he thinks of his son. Clovis Claxton was a convicted sex offender, but he was also wheelchair-bound and depressed because of his illness. So, when he began seeing signs describing him as a threat and sex offender, his father says he used pills and alcohol to take his own life.

HARRIS: I'm not interested in shaping our public policy around the exception. The exception is that one of them has committed suicide.

SANCHEZ: Commissioner Harris makes no apology when it comes to protecting children.

HARRIS: It's my opinion that he was a victim of his own circumstance. I have no doubt that he was guilt-ridden over the crime that he committed. I mean he committed a sexual offense against a child, I believe, nine years old.

SANCHEZ: The record shows that Claxton did expose himself to a young girl, the daughter of a friend, in 1991. However, a careful review of that same record by police also shows that he was no longer considered a threat. Just to be sure, we asked the local sheriff's what they had found.

CAPT. DENNIS STROW, MARION COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Our risk assessment did not indicate that he was a threat to the neighborhood.

SANCHEZ: Here's why: as a child, Claxton was diagnosed with both meningitis and encephalitis, which left him severely impaired physically and mentally.

How old was when this happened?

CLAXTON: Chronically (SIC), he was 20; mentally, 10, 11, because of some injuries he had to his brain due to encephalitis at the age of 10. It was nothing more at the time of -- him and a little girl just playing, show me yours, show me mine, you know.

SANCHEZ: Claxton has never again been accused of a sex crime. What's more, the girl and her family who accused him have forgiven him, and even visit.

CLAXTON: The girl's parents are still friends of the family.

SANCHEZ: That speed limit sign you see right there is approximately a block and a half from Clovis Claxton's home. He literally could not go home on any given night without seeing that sign. It is one of the places where someone hung a poster, right underneath the sign. The poster read, "child rapist."

How unfair was that characterization?

CLAXTON: Totally unfair, because he never raped anybody.

SANCHEZ: Clovis Claxton was found dead in his apartment days after the first posters appeared. He was found, in fact, with one of the posters that accused him of being a child rapist.

Child rapist. That's pretty strong.

HARRIS: It is strong. It's very strong.

SANCHEZ: Strong enough to cause one man to take his own life and to possibly teach all of us the lesson about the power of labels and how words really do matter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): If we take anything from the story, it's, perhaps there needs to be more standardization. Who makes a decision as to what a predator is, or what an offender is? Why is it that in Pennsylvania you get cleared after 10 years, and in Florida, you could be on there for the rest of your life?

Communities are going to have to grapple with this all over the country, because if they don't, it seems -- and law enforcement officials are telling us -- someone, some community, some people will fill the void somehow and if they fill the void, as they say happened in this case, they may do so incorrectly.

I'm Rick Sanchez. Rudi, back to you.

BAHKTIAR: Thank you very much for that report, Rick.

All right, let's find out what is coming up at the top of the hour on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." Paula?

PAULA ZAHN, HOST "PAULA ZAHN NOW": Hi, Rudi. Thanks so much.

Your show, so far, has focused in part on the effects of crystal meth, and at the top of our hour, we're going to take you deeper into America's heartland, and deeper into that crisis. The folks in one small town knew they had a problem, but turned their backs until it was too late for an innocent little girl.

We're also going to tell you about one state's radical attempt to fight crystal meth at its source, and it appears to be working. So, please join us at the top of the hour for some solutions to this horrible problem.

BAKHTIAR: Crystal meth -- big, big story. Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: You're welcome.

BAKHTIAR: 360 next, we're going to check our e-mail and share your thoughts. Tell us what you think. Log onto CNN.com/360, click on the instant feedback link.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Time now for some viewer e-mail. Many of you have been writing about what concerns you the most.

S. from New Orleans writes, "We've wasted several hundred billion dollars and over 1500 young men and women have lost their lives on a war that has propagated hatred toward the US and decreased our security. If half of those resources had been spent on port security and hazardous chemical manufacturing security, our vulnerability to terrorism would have been reduced exponentially."

Well, all right.

Michael from Austin, Texas, writes, "What do Americans fear most? I can't help but fear our own government. They have forgotten the middle class."

And to Pat from Clovis, California, who adds, "I have been a police officer for 13 years and have seen what crystal meth does to people and families. I blame a lot of this on the court system because they do not do anything with these people after they've been arrested."

Send us your e-mail and thoughts any time. Log on to CNN.com/360. Just click on the instant feedback link and we'll try to get your emails on our show.

That's it for 360 tonight. I'm Rudi Bakhtiar. Anderson's back with us, back tomorrow night. CNN'S prime time coverage continues now with Paula Zahn. Hello, Paula.

END

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired April 25, 2005 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RUDI BAHKTIAR, GUEST HOST: Thank you, Lou.
Good evening, everyone.

Sexual predators, drugs, terrorism: what do Americans fear the most?

We're going to take a special look at what you say are your five biggest concerns.

ANNOUNCER: Black market nukes: how easy would it be for al Qaeda to get its hands on the materials to make a nuclear bomb? Experts are sounding the alarm. Hear why they say no one is listening.

Heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, marijuana: how concerned are you about drugs in your community? We sort through which drugs you fear the most.

Hundreds of thousands of sexual predators living free and may be near your family. But has public hysteria gone too far? We take a look at the thin line between vigilante justice and keeping your kids safe.

And lives being lost in deadly violence. Tonight one of America's biggest fears, violent crime.

Anderson Cooper gets rare access inside one of the deadliest gang communities in America and asks, what drives them to kill?

Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is a special edition of "ANDERSON COOPER 360."

BAKHTIAR: Good evening and welcome, everyone. I'm Rudi Bakhtiar. Anderson has the night off.

From suicide bombers to sexual predators this is a very dangerous world we live in, and there is plenty for American's to be concerned about. Tonight we're going to look at what we call our biggest fears, the things you said you're most concerned about right now. We're going to tell you what they are and we're going to take an in depth look at each of the top five in this hour.

We're going to start with terrorism. According to a newly released CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll 36 percent of those polled said they are very concerned about it. And terror experts have one worry above all, the nightmare scenario of terrorists smuggling a nuclear bomb into this country -- something that may be far easier than you could possibly imagine.

CNN's David Mattingly has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY: Macau, a small island in the South China Sea. Once a Portuguese colony now controlled by China. For decades Macau has been the seedy underbelly of Asia, a steamy neon-slathered gateway to the international underworld. It's a place where Chinese gangs came to spread violence and North Koreans spies learned how to operate in the West.

Today, it is a place where tourists come to test their luck in the casinos and to satisfy other urges in the arms of prostitutes. But look more deeply into the shadows and some say you will likely find a base of operations for a sophisticated North Korean smuggling network that in the past moved drugs, counterfeit money, and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

MATTHEW BURN, MANAGING THE ATOM PROJECT: North Korea is a country that has a history of selling any weapon it had to virtually anyone who would buy.

MATTINGLY: So could a terrorist group come to Macau shopping for nuclear material, and would the North Koreans sell it to them? The experts that study the threat fear the answer could be yes. In fact, they say the transaction would be surprisingly simple. A North Korean agent operating unnoticed slips into one of the hundreds of bars. He meets an al Qaeda middleman. He makes an exchange. Then the al Qaeda operative heads into the night getting lost amongst the tourists and the prostitutes on the prowl. All it takes is a small bag like this, big enough to easily hold enough highly enriched uranium or plutonium to incinerate the core of an American city.

BURN: The amount of plutonium you would need for a nuclear bomb would fit easily in a Coke can.

MATTINGLY: Matthew Burn studies the security or insecurity of the world's nuclear material.

BURN: It is very plausible that a well-organized and sophisticated terrorist group might be able to put together a crude, nuclear bomb.

GRAHAM ALLISON, FMR. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL If we keep doing today what we're doing the likelihood is more likely than not.

MATTINGLY: Graham Allison, a Harvard professor and former Defense Department official warns in a new book that we are dangerously vulnerable to a terrorist nuclear attack.

ALLISON: No event like this has happened in American history. This would make 9/11 seem like a you know, a toothache.

MATTINGLY: Steve Flynn has been studying for years long before 9/11 how terrorists might attack the U.S. with a weapon of mass destruction.

STEVEN FLYNN, ANALYST: The reality is the Central Intelligence Agency has said the more likely way a weapon of mass destruction will come into the United States is in a ship and likely to be in a shipping container.

MATTINGLY: Most about the size of the typical truck trailer containers like these are the vehicles of choice on the super highway of international trade. The busiest container port in the world is Hong Kong -- just an hour away from Macau. Despite many efforts made by the U.S. and other governments and private industries since 9/11 experts like Flynn say containers are America's Achilles heel.

FLYNN: There are between 16 and 18 million containers worldwide. Where anybody can get a container, ordered to their home or workplace, they can load it up. You close it off. You put a 50 cent lead seal with a number on it and then you hand it to a transportation provider, somebody you may not otherwise invite into your home.

MATTINGLY: Flynn's new book, "America the Vulnerable," is a stark warning. The U.S. government admits there was a problem, but says it is moving quickly to fix it.

TOM RIDGE, FORMER SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: In the past efforts to secure this vast global industry, both here in the United States and throughout the world, were isolated, they were scattered, and they were uncoordinated. The United States and the United States Coast Guard recognized the problem and took specific actions to secure our homeland and the global economy.

MATTINGLY: But despite these efforts, Steve Flynn and others argue containers could still be the poor man's nuclear missile.

(on camera): Will we know what is in the boxes?

FLYNN: I don't think you'll -- you'll know for certainty on ever single container.

JOHN MEREDITH, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF HUTCHISON PORT HOLDINGS: This one of the old cameras or one of the new ones?

MATTINGLY: John Meredith moves more boxes than anyone else in the world, 44 million a year. He's a managing director of Hutchison Port Holdings, the largest port operator in the world with 44 facilities in 17 countries. And Meredith is very worried about what could be put into one of those boxes.

MEREDITH: So many millions and millions and millions of products are coming, flowing into the country and no one at the moment is tracing where they came from and tracking how they got there.

MATTINGLY: Meredith says companies like his are ready and able to improve container security with the devices like X-ray machines, radio seals on containers and radiological detectors. But, he says, the U.S. government needs to set a uniform standard for all companies shipping containers into U.S. ports. There's no one person or one agency in charge. Responsibility for container security lies across multiple agencies.

MEREDITH: The ports are now secured. But what is not secured is the supply chain -- the movement of the boxes through the system -- and that is the Trojan horse.

MATTINGLY: And if the Trojan horse, a nuclear device inside a container were detonated, ports would shut down and so would the global economy.

MEREDITH: If you shut those down for a period of two to three weeks, we shut down the global trade system. That's what we're talking about playing with here.

David Mattingly, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: Next on this special edition of 360 we're counting down America's five biggest fears. Anderson Cooper takes you inside one of America's most dangerous neighborhood.

Plus, throwing it all away for drugs. Robert Downey Jr., a case study in addiction out of control.

Also tonight, inside the mind of a sex offender. Our 360 M.D. Dr. Sanjay Gupta goes beyond the headlines to find out what makes them tick.

First your picks of the top stories on CNN.com right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to this special edition of 360.

Our five greatest fears, the fourth, according to a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll is violent crime: 52 percent of Americans say they are very concerned about it. But, according to the Justice Department, violent crime has been dropping since 1994, and in 2003, hit its lowest level ever recorded. Yet, in places, the violence is getting worse and the threat, only bigger. Anderson spent two months in one gang-infested community in Los Angeles going "Beyond the Headlines" for a very rare look at a very dangerous world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIKI, WHITE FENCE GANG MEMBER: We're entering the zone, now.

I walk around with a tattoo on my head. I'm a target. I have a (INAUDIBLE). That should tell you everything.

COOPER: Kiki is 26, a proud member of White Fence, one of Hollenbecks (ph) 34 gangs. The police say there are now 700 White Fence members and associates.

KIKI (RAPPING): Pick up the 40 automatic, let him have it, getting rid of static, who's the baddest? COOPER: Gangsters, who claim to be go guardians of the neighborhood. Kiki says he's been shot three times.

KIKI: I got a 10 in the morning drive-by.

You know, when you get shot, you're like, damn. People are just screaming, aah, you're going to be all right. I'm like, damn -- they look at me -- damn, I'm in the hospital. I got shot in my arm.

COOPER: Kiki was 14 when he joined White Fence. He was jumped in, beaten up by fellow gang members. It's a common initiation meant to test loyalty and give new members a taste of what gang life is all about.

For Kiki, who spent time in foster, care the gang was everything he hoped for, friends, family, and fights.

KIKI: When I was in junior high, that was really what we used to go to school for, to pick a fight. So I was nuts to bust, too. But that was it.

COOPER: His status in the gang grew along with his juvenile record.

KIKI: Guns, drugs, assault, attempted murder, gang banging, everything.

COOPER: Some people would say it's wrong to be in a gang. It's wrong to sell drugs, gang bang, whatever.

KIKI: Well, sell drugs, it's just like -- I mean, if we don't do it, someone else is going to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, I got my last name on my back.

COOPER: Older game members, veteranos, schooled Kiki in the odd logic of gang morality and the rules of engagement. Drive-by shootings are OK as long as they don't kill innocent kids.

KIKI: That's a no-no. I mean, damn, they don't know right from wrong.

COOPER: And if a homeboy is killed, gang members should take the law into their own hands.

KIKI: The cops, they got so many murders on their hand. I mean, we rather take our own actions.

One of my friends died right here protecting the bridge. So, this is one of the places we can't let go.

COOPER: Though he joined a gang for a sense of belonging, 12 years later Kiki now finds himself alone. Most of his friends are in prison or dead.

I don't quite get the appeal of being in a gang right now for you.

KIKI: This is all I've got. I don't got no -- nothing else. I don't come home to nothing else.

COOPER: Kiki passes time tattooing, a skill he picked up in jail. He has no full-time job, but takes classes at a community college. He's on probation for selling crack.

So, like, 10 years from now, what do you think you'll be doing?

KIKI: I don't know. I don't think ahead like that. I just -- I just go day by day.

COOPER: Kiki does think about putting his fighting skills to use. Inspired by one of his favorite movies, "Full Metal Jacket," he talks about joining the Marines.

KIKI: I think that's the best route for us. That would be the best route for society. I would rather die a hero than, you know, die a statistic.

COOPER: But with his criminal record, joining the Marines is just a fantasy. A fantasy he's fighting to hold on to.

Anderson Cooper, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: In case you are wondering, tonight's list stems from a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll conducted by telephone in February. Pollsters asked about a thousand Americans how concerned they were about the five fears we're addressing tonight, and then ranked those fears according to the responses.

We are also tracking a number of other stories for us tonight -- cross-country -- Erica Hill joining us from HEADLINE NEWS with the latest. Hey, Erica.

ERICA HILL, CNN HEADLINE NEWS: Hey Rudi, good to see you.

We start off in Texas. President Bush pressing the Saudis to boost oil production in an effort to ease high gas prices here in the U.S. At his Texas ranch, Mr. Bush met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdulla. It's a key meeting, since the Saudis are the worlds top oil exporter. Abdulla and his delegation presented a long-term plan to increase production by 2010, but made no promises on short-term output.

In Warrenton, Georgia, the bodies of two missing children have been found in a pond just a few hundred yards from their home. Two- year-old Nicole Payne and her three-year-old brother Jonah have been missing since Saturday. Autopsies are planned.

New York, now, where Martha Stewart's night out is under investigation. Federal probation officials are looking into whether Stewart violated terms of her house arrest by attending a magazine gala last week. Probation officials did approve her request to attend the event, but now, are questioning whether that should have been done.

Sayreville, New Jersey, no, not just home to Bon Jovi but also a little something stuck in a tree, next to a house. What is it, you ask? Nothing but a bear, a 240-pound bear. Wildlife officials used ropes to get it down after shooting it with a tranquilizer. Tonight, the bear is roaming a nonresidential area. Some people call it the woods.

And, Rudi, that's the latest from HEADLINE NEWS right now. I'll send it back to you.

BAKHTIAR: All right, thank you, Erica. See you again in about 30 minutes.

Coming up next on this special edition of 360, "America's Five Biggest Fears." What scares you the most? Addiction out of control: find out how drugs took over the life of Robert Downey ,Jr. Fame and fortune thrown out the window for the next fix. Also tonight, crystal meth in the heartland, babies caught in the cross fire, rural families destroyed.

And a little later, inside the mind of a sex offender. Can they be cured or should they be locked away for life? What is America's biggest fear. Stay with us to find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to this special edition of 360: "Our Five Biggest Fears." We're counting them down and we're now at number three. Cocaine. The concern might be justified. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, cocaine is the second most commonly used illegal drug in the United States -- marijuana being the first -- yet the National Drug Intelligence Center says that cocaine is the primary drug threat in this country, in part because of its widespread use, high overdose rate and connection to violence. A government study published a couple of years ago found that nearly 35 million people age 12 and older had tried cocaine at least once in their lifetimes, and that includes celebrities.

Kyra Phillips takes a look at Robert Downey Jr.'s very public struggle with a cocaine addiction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN PENN, ACTOR: His particular case concerns me a great deal, because he's somebody I know personally, care a great deal about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I told you if you violated this round of probation, you would go back to jail, and that's where you're going.

PENN: I think he's a poster boy for the fact that prison doesn't cure it.

ROBERT SHAPIRO, ATTORNEY: I am shocked and saddened by the sentence today. I think it is wrong. I do not think it meets the aims of justice. It does not serve the community. It certainly does not serve Mr. Downey.

QUESTION: Can you characterize the mood and the state of Mr. Downey right now?

DANIEL BROOKMAN, ATTORNEY: Mr. Downey is very optimistic. He's upbeat about this. He's committed to moving on with his life.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A life which in recent years has been plagued with deep personal problems.

In 1996, the actor violated his probation when he fled from a detox center, his rehab stemming from several drug and weapons arrests. But a judge sent him back.

A year later, he skipped a court-ordered drug test and spent the next four months in the L.A. County Jail.

1999, Downey skipped another drug test and was sent back to rehab. But this time, a judge gave Downey hard time -- state prison for nearly one year.

ROBERT DOWNEY JR., ACTOR: You toughen up a little bit when you're in lockdown. Either that, or you read a bunch of books and eat a bunch of Jolly Ranchers. But I decided to toughen up a bit.

PHILLIPS: Thanksgiving weekend 2000, just four months after his release from state prison, Downey was busted again -- this time in Palm Springs for cocaine possession and being under the influence of drugs.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges. A July 2001 court date was set. Downey remained free awaiting trial.

Despite all his legal problems, despite his repeated pattern of relapsing into drug use, Hollywood kept taking Downey back.

MICHAEL CHIKLIS, ACTOR: Hollywood has got a real short memory, you know. Well, because, you know, to a degree it lives up to its cliche, that it's vacuous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The interesting thing is that he never really had a problem in terms of his career and the drugs. It was always between jobs that he would have the problem.

PHILLIPS: April 2001, Robert Downey was arrested yet again, this time in an alley outside a Culver City, California motel, allegedly under the influence of a controlled substance. Results from a voluntary urine test found that Downey had cocaine in his system the night of his arrest.

July 13th, Robert Downey Jr.'s day in court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Downey, I want to tell you, this is not a gift. PHILLIPS: Days before the trial, the California legislature passed Proposition 36, a law calling for treatment rather than jail time for nonviolent drug offenders. Downey got three years probation and was ordered to continue his treatment.

JAMES EPSTEIN, DOWNEY'S ATTORNEY: He is very motivated to overcome the problem he has. And we're all very encouraged.

PHILLIPS: Court officials were also encouraged. At the actor's hearing of July of 2002, positive probation reports ended his three- year probation.

PETER CASTRO, "TIME" MAGAZINE: It's impossible to tell with Robert Downey, Jr. if this is really the last time, because he has disappointed us so many times. But that said, he seems like he's really together and on the road to recovery finally.

PHILLIPS: As Downey moves on with his life and his career, he is dealing with his addiction with humor.

DOWNEY JR.: What has always been funny to me is people say, you know, shouldn't -- shouldn't the boy really move out of Hollywood and kind of be a tree hugger, location, Seattle and (INAUDIBLE).

You know, right now, the ominous feeling of, you know, I'll remember this horrible time as the good old days.

PHILLIPS: The question that only Robert Downey Jr. can answer. Are there good days ahead?

DOWNEY JR.: Things are a little different now than they were a couple of years ago. You know, I'll just keep doing what I have to do to keep it that way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: And coming up next on the special edition of 360, "America's Five Biggest Fears." What worries you the most? We're going beyond the headlines to find out. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to this special edition of "360." Tonight, we're taking a closer look at what concerns you and your family most, our greatest fears.

We began at number five with terrorism, followed by violent crime and cocaine. That brings us to our second biggest fear, also a drug. Crystal methamphetamine.

Like cocaine, crystal meth is powerful, popular and deadly. But unlike the white powder, crystal meth is cheap and easy to make. In fact, the recipe often includes everyday household items, like cleaners and cold medicines. And that's why it destroys so many families. And it's not just the users who are paying the price. CNN's Randi Kaye reports. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thornton, Colorado, 10 miles outside Denver, a drug raid under way. But this bust will reveal more than just drugs -- a victim, one you wouldn't expect.

His name is Brandon, just 18 months, exposed to a world no child should ever see. Brandon and his mother are in this home where the drug methamphetamine is being made. It's a meth lab. Right next to Brandon's toys, deadly chemicals. His mother reaches out to him to assure him, but it's too late. His mother is arrested, later convicted for drug possession and child abuse.

This little boy now faces a tough journey. He's not the only one.

(on camera): According to the National Alliance for Drug endangered Children, kids are found in more than 30 percent of meth labs raided nationwide. It also says most women who are meth cooks are of childbearing age. And when a pregnant woman gets high on meth, so does her baby.

(voice-over): This is what a meth baby looks like. Premature, hooked on meth, and suffering the pangs of withdrawal. They don't want to eat or sleep, and the simplest things cause great pain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She would cry when she would have her diaper changed, because it was so tender and sore.

KAYE: This baby's bottom is burned. When her mother inhaled meth, so did she. Now every time the baby goes to the bathroom, the acids from the meth in her system burn her own skin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her buttocks actually is bleeding.

KAYE: Ron Mullins is a cop turned coordinator with the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children. During his years on the street, he shut down hundreds of meth labs. Today, he helps states care for children of meth.

RON MULLINS, NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR ENDANGERED CHILDREN: These children are being raised in homes that are absolutely filthy. There's rotting food everywhere. There is animal and human feces everywhere. It's deplorable conditions.

KAYE: Look into the eyes of this woman. You'll see a life full of drugs, abuse, neglect and violence.

Her name is Tiffany. She asked that we not use her last name. She says she has been around meth since she was a young child, a meth addict since her early teens. She is also a mom, who chose drugs over her own children.

TIFFANY, METH ADDICT: I could never make that more important than getting another dose.

KAYE: At 25, Tiffany says she is clean. She was hooked on methamphetamine for a decade.

It's like speed, but far more addictive. On the street, they call it ice, glass, or crank. Some women take it to lose weight; others to help them get chores done, and some like Tiffany, because she didn't know any better.

TIFFANY: Your heart just, you know, starts racing, you know, 200 beats a minute. And then your legs get weak, and you try to get up and walk around, but you're not going to walk straight for a few minutes. And then, you know, after about 30 minutes, the rush is gone and you are just up and you are just wide open, 90 miles an hour.

KAYE (on camera): How long had you gone at some point without sleep?

TIFFANY: I think the most I'd ever stayed up was right at three weeks.

KAYE (voice-over): Tiffany tried meth for the first time when she was 12. She snorted it.

(on camera): And do you remember the first time what it felt like?

TIFFANY: I remember it burned. It hurt.

KAYE (voice-over): At 15, Tiffany had her first child, Terrell (ph), but meth was still her baby. She'd hit the street searching for the next party, the next high, gone weeks at a time. Family members looked after her son.

TIFFANY: It's really sad to say this, but my son had gotten so used to it, he had quit worrying about me.

KAYE: And she quit worrying about herself.

Then she got pregnant again. Even that didn't stop her from taking the drug.

TIFFANY: I think I was almost three months pregnant when I found out I was pregnant, and I had been using pretty heavily.

KAYE: Her daughter Audrey (ph) is now almost three.

TIFFANY: I wouldn't shoot up in front of them. I wouldn't smoke in front of them. I would hide in the bathroom, but my son always knew something was going on.

I think how a child turns out has got to do a lot with their parents. And you know, what I was shown was how I turned out to be.

KAYE: Tiffany's mom was arrested and charged in 2003 with running a meth lab. She has not yet entered a plea.

TIFFANY: For a long time, I wanted to blame her for everything. KAYE: But now, Tiffany blames herself, at least for what she did to her kids. This photo was taken on the night she was arrested for possession of meth. The night her life started to turn around.

TIFFANY: It's real hard to look back at what I did to my kids.

KAYE: Jail sobered Tiffany, gave her time to reflect. It forced her into recovery, something she still struggles with two-and-a-half years later.

(on camera): Do you feel you have broken the cycle in your family?

TIFFANY: I hope so.

I'm watching you, baby.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: Since our story first aired in February, Tiffany has successfully graduated from a drug court program in Georgia, and that means that she has been able to stay clean. According to her drug coordinator, she is doing well. Congratulations, Tiffany.

Now, crystal meth just doesn't damage your mind; it destroys it. Here's a fast fact for you. According to "The Journal of Neuroscience," regular meth users lose about 1 percent of their brain cells every year. That's about the same amount of brain cells lost by someone with Alzheimer's disease.

Next on this special edition of 360, our biggest fears. We're counting them down for you. 360 MD Sanjay Gupta takes us inside the mind of a predator.

Plus, what can happen if our fears go too far? Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to this special edition of 360: "Our Five Biggest Fears." All this hour, we've been counting them down for you. We're now at the number one fear, the sexual molestation of children. Sixty-six percent of respondents said they are very concerned about it in a CNN-"USA Today" Gallup poll.

There have been a number of highly publicized cases just in the last few weeks of children allegedly being attacked and killed by sexual predators. 360 MD Sanjay Gupta showing us what drives such an obsession.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

"STEVEN," CONVICTED PEDOPHILE: It involves several young male boys, over a period of time, from the time I was about 20 to 47, 48 years old. And it wasn't a continuous thing. It was something that went like a broken tire, a flat tire in a car. You'd go along and things would be OK, and then you'd hit the flat spot and you would abuse.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's no doubt this 52-year-old man is a pedophile. The bigger question, is he a criminal or a patient?

"STEVEN": I'm the guy that's going to take the long way around a group of kids in a shopping mall.

GUPTA: "Steven," who asked for his name to be changed and to be interviewed in silhouette, spent three years in prison after being convicted of acts of pedophilia as a crime. Today, he's being treated for pedophilia as an illness.

Admittedly, it is blurry. Increasingly we medicalize bad behavior. Alcoholism, violence, even murder may all be due to imbalances of chemicals in the brain. But the risk is we may let criminals pay a lesser price for monstrous deeds or punish patients for whom treatment could prevent future crimes.

"STEVEN": It's not a disease, as it's not a bacteria or a virus, it is a mental illness. OK? It's a cognitive dysfunction that people can get. Is somebody born with it? Some people might be born with it.

GUPTA: As for "Steven" himself, he's not sure whether he was born with it. He is sure that for almost 30 years he molested more than a dozen children. It was only the combined force of the police, court and prison that could break "Steven's" cycle of abuse. Pedophilia has been a diagnosable mental illness for decades, simply defined as an abnormal sexual attraction for children.

And while there are no brain scans or blood tests to confirm the diagnoses, there is a battery of treatments, ranging from psychotherapy to antidepressants to forms of chemical castration with anti-androgens, aimed at reducing testosterone and sex drive.

DR. PAUL FEDOROFF, "STEVEN'S" PSYCHIATRIST: The aim of treatment in pedophilia is not for people to stop having sex, but rather to modify their sexual interests so that they become non-criminal.

GUPTA: "Steven's" course involves two strategies, antidepressants to curb sex drive and psychotherapy to understand why he has abused. Now six years after being convicted, he says he no longer thinks of children sexually.

"STEVEN": I don't spend enough time thinking about them to have fantasies. So, it's like a guillotine coming down. There's a child. I remember terrible things happened. I don't want to go there, clank, done, out of it. Let's change our thought pattern, go someplace else.

GUPTA: But can treatment work for everyone? Can pedophilia ever really be cured? Many are cautious, including Dr. Gene Abel, Director of Behavioral Medicine at Emory University.

DR. GENE ABEL, BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE INSTITUTE: Rheumatoid arthritis never goes away. Congestive heart failure is never cured. Diabetes is never cured. This is not cured. This behavior, inappropriate behavior, is not cured. We just help the person stop this behavior.

"STEVEN": I would say when you get to the definition of cured being I don't want to, I don't feel like it and I have no interest, if that's your definition of cured, then you have got a lot of people out there that have been cured. If your definition of to be cured, never ever having had a peacekeepers thought in your life, then there is no cure. An alcoholic isn't a drunk if he never drinks again, all right? Is he cured? Well might as well be.

GUPTA: As far as pedophiles go, though, for now, at least, they will be treated as both patients and criminals.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BAKHTIAR: All right. Let's check out some other news of the day. Erica Hill joining us from HEADLINE NEWS with the latest.

Hello, Erica.

HILL: Hello again to you Rudi. We start off with 14 reputed mob figures. At this point indicted today on charges of plotting, at least, 18 murders over the past few decades. Agents in three states have been rounding up -- pardon me, the defendants. But say that, some, including long-time mob leader Joey "The Clown" Lombardo (ph) have been hard to find.

Outside Osaka, Japan the country's deadliest rail accident in more than 40 years, at least, 69 people killed, 441 injured when a commuter train jumped the tracks and crashed into an apartment building this morning. Railway officials are checking the train's brakes to see if they were working correctly.

In Santa Maria, California, Michael Jackson's ex-wife is set to testify. The judge says Debbie Rowe can take the stand for the prosecution in the singer's molestation trial. Prosecutors say she was under duress earlier when she praised Jackson as a good father in a videotape. The defense says the prosecution is desperate.

And that is the latest from HEADLINE NEWS at this hour. With that, Rudi, we'll send it back to you.

BAKHTIAR: All right. Thank you very much, Erica.

Coming up next on 360, on this special edition, our five biggest fears. How concerned over this sexual offender -- concerned people that is may have gone too far. We're going to tell you and let you decide next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Welcome back to the special edition of 360. Tonight we've been covering America's five biggest fears. Child molestation is the top concern, according to a CNN/"USA Today"/Gallop poll. Yet, the chances of your child being abducted, and then sexually assaulted and murdered by a stranger are very rare. A government study found each year more than 58,000 U.S. children are abducted by non-family members, but only 100 of those are taken by a complete stranger. Of that 100, about 40 are murdered. That may lead some to question whether our fears are out of line with reality.

CNN's Rick Sanchez reports on how one community's efforts to keep their children safe may have led to unintended results.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK ELMHORST: The county sheriff confirms a father's worst fear.

SHERIFF JEFF DAWSY: Jessica Lunsford's body has been discovered.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The horror of the crime was out there for the whole world to see -- on television, radio, print, and especially which by word of mouth.

CINDY BRILL, RESIDENT: And I work in one of the local hospitals and it was the topic of conversation every morning and every evening throughout the day as we were updated or read the newspaper.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The worst-case scenario became a heartbreaking reality.

JACKIE CALLAWAY, REPORTER: The sheriff's office had identified her body.

SANCHEZ: Not one, but two Florida girls from the same general area killed by sexual offenders. The first, nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford, taken in the middle of the night found buried in a shallow grave clutching her stuffed dolphin. The second, 13-year-old Sarah Lunde taken after return everything a church outing, found weighed down and partially disrobed at the bottom of a murky pond.

DEBBIE PARDEE, RESIDENT: I personally was horrified. I have an eight-year-old and 16-year-old; I feared for them immediately.

SANCHEZ: Ocala, Florida, is about an hour-and-a-half drive from the place where both girls were found murdered -- crimes that created a mood of fear and caution. People were holding on to their kids just a little tighter. So, when they heard a convicted sex offender was living among them, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think a lot of people were sick, just sick and saddened, by what they heard. And I think they still are, and in shock.

SANCHEZ: County Commissioner Randy Harris is a tough-minded politician who makes no excuses for his proposal to identify and label all sex offenders with signs and posters. RANDY HARRIS, MARION COUNTY COMMISSIONER: I believe that the county commission should post signs in neighborhoods and inform the public of where these people actually reside, because they are residing in a neighborhood where people simply don't know.

SANCHEZ: In this central Florida town that proudly displays its red, white, and blue, the people see this issue as black and white, cut and dry. A sex offender should simply not be allowed to conceal himself. Parents need to be told about them so they can protect their children.

What happens, though, if there are mitigating circumstances? If one case is different perhaps from others? Maybe, just maybe, it's not so black and white.

CHUCK CLAXTON, VICTIM'S FATHER: He was a threat to no one but himself. Absolutely no one.

SANCHEZ: Must be pretty painful, Chuck.

CLAXTON: Sorry.

SANCHEZ: Chuck Claxton cries when he thinks of his son. Clovis Claxton was a convicted sex offender, but he was also wheelchair-bound and depressed because of his illness. So, when he began seeing signs describing him as a threat and sex offender, his father says he used pills and alcohol to take his own life.

HARRIS: I'm not interested in shaping our public policy around the exception. The exception is that one of them has committed suicide.

SANCHEZ: Commissioner Harris makes no apology when it comes to protecting children.

HARRIS: It's my opinion that he was a victim of his own circumstance. I have no doubt that he was guilt-ridden over the crime that he committed. I mean he committed a sexual offense against a child, I believe, nine years old.

SANCHEZ: The record shows that Claxton did expose himself to a young girl, the daughter of a friend, in 1991. However, a careful review of that same record by police also shows that he was no longer considered a threat. Just to be sure, we asked the local sheriff's what they had found.

CAPT. DENNIS STROW, MARION COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Our risk assessment did not indicate that he was a threat to the neighborhood.

SANCHEZ: Here's why: as a child, Claxton was diagnosed with both meningitis and encephalitis, which left him severely impaired physically and mentally.

How old was when this happened?

CLAXTON: Chronically (SIC), he was 20; mentally, 10, 11, because of some injuries he had to his brain due to encephalitis at the age of 10. It was nothing more at the time of -- him and a little girl just playing, show me yours, show me mine, you know.

SANCHEZ: Claxton has never again been accused of a sex crime. What's more, the girl and her family who accused him have forgiven him, and even visit.

CLAXTON: The girl's parents are still friends of the family.

SANCHEZ: That speed limit sign you see right there is approximately a block and a half from Clovis Claxton's home. He literally could not go home on any given night without seeing that sign. It is one of the places where someone hung a poster, right underneath the sign. The poster read, "child rapist."

How unfair was that characterization?

CLAXTON: Totally unfair, because he never raped anybody.

SANCHEZ: Clovis Claxton was found dead in his apartment days after the first posters appeared. He was found, in fact, with one of the posters that accused him of being a child rapist.

Child rapist. That's pretty strong.

HARRIS: It is strong. It's very strong.

SANCHEZ: Strong enough to cause one man to take his own life and to possibly teach all of us the lesson about the power of labels and how words really do matter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(on camera): If we take anything from the story, it's, perhaps there needs to be more standardization. Who makes a decision as to what a predator is, or what an offender is? Why is it that in Pennsylvania you get cleared after 10 years, and in Florida, you could be on there for the rest of your life?

Communities are going to have to grapple with this all over the country, because if they don't, it seems -- and law enforcement officials are telling us -- someone, some community, some people will fill the void somehow and if they fill the void, as they say happened in this case, they may do so incorrectly.

I'm Rick Sanchez. Rudi, back to you.

BAHKTIAR: Thank you very much for that report, Rick.

All right, let's find out what is coming up at the top of the hour on "PAULA ZAHN NOW." Paula?

PAULA ZAHN, HOST "PAULA ZAHN NOW": Hi, Rudi. Thanks so much.

Your show, so far, has focused in part on the effects of crystal meth, and at the top of our hour, we're going to take you deeper into America's heartland, and deeper into that crisis. The folks in one small town knew they had a problem, but turned their backs until it was too late for an innocent little girl.

We're also going to tell you about one state's radical attempt to fight crystal meth at its source, and it appears to be working. So, please join us at the top of the hour for some solutions to this horrible problem.

BAKHTIAR: Crystal meth -- big, big story. Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: You're welcome.

BAKHTIAR: 360 next, we're going to check our e-mail and share your thoughts. Tell us what you think. Log onto CNN.com/360, click on the instant feedback link.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAKHTIAR: Time now for some viewer e-mail. Many of you have been writing about what concerns you the most.

S. from New Orleans writes, "We've wasted several hundred billion dollars and over 1500 young men and women have lost their lives on a war that has propagated hatred toward the US and decreased our security. If half of those resources had been spent on port security and hazardous chemical manufacturing security, our vulnerability to terrorism would have been reduced exponentially."

Well, all right.

Michael from Austin, Texas, writes, "What do Americans fear most? I can't help but fear our own government. They have forgotten the middle class."

And to Pat from Clovis, California, who adds, "I have been a police officer for 13 years and have seen what crystal meth does to people and families. I blame a lot of this on the court system because they do not do anything with these people after they've been arrested."

Send us your e-mail and thoughts any time. Log on to CNN.com/360. Just click on the instant feedback link and we'll try to get your emails on our show.

That's it for 360 tonight. I'm Rudi Bakhtiar. Anderson's back with us, back tomorrow night. CNN'S prime time coverage continues now with Paula Zahn. Hello, Paula.

END

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