The Pedophile Register
August 31st 2006 07:02
photograph by Kevin Connors, from www.morguefile.com
NSW Police Minister Carl Scully, today ruled out the possibility of instituting a public register of pedophiles and I’m not happy about it.
All I want is a trial and if it doesn’t work, then so be it.
You see, everyday hundreds, maybe even thousands of children around the world are sexually abused and assaulted by older men and women. These children often experience depression, grief, eating-disorders, self-mutilation and sometimes even commit suicide. They suffer physically and emotionally for the rest of their lives.
What’s worse, there is even a pedophilia movement out there attempting to make relationships with pre-pubescent children socially acceptable.
When such information is available to us, is it not logical to do all that we can to protect our children from pedophilic activity? If we can’t lock all these bastards away for life, then at the least, should we not notify the community when the danger is nearby?
A public register would not only allow police to monitor every move of the convicted child sex offender but also, police would be given authority to inform parents and others who may inquire of the pedophile’s whereabouts.
Hell, I’d wanna know if I was living next door to a pedophile, and I don’t even have children.
In the US, there is a mechanism in place known colloquially as "Megan’s Law”. All parents are informed when there is a pedophile living in their area. The law was first passed in 1994 when young Megan Nicole Kanka was raped and murdered by a convicted pedophile who lived across the road from her.
Today all states in the US have instituted Megan’s Law in some form and the UK is considering doing the same thing but calling it "Sarah’s Law", in memory of 8-year-old Sarah Payne who was murdered in July, 2000 by a child sex offender.
I realize that a register is not going to put a miraculous stop to pedophilia in Australia. I realize that there may be problems of vigilante behaviour and stereotyping of sex offenders. But I also realize that we need to give the public register a try, because if we don’t, we will never know how effective it may be.
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Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Like you said, I'd want to know. Why should people be anonymous? When people lived in villages, everyone knew everyone else's dirty little secrets.
In my mind, it's the anonymity of the big city that breeds this anti-social behaviour...
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Personally, I have to agree that a pedophile register is a good thing in theory. Problem is that by implenting it, this says we have no faith in our rehabilitation system.
We are assuming that the prison system doesnt work, and it doesnt.
So my logical question is whats the point in locking them up to start with if we assume criminals dont change in jail.
Capital punishment is one solution, if not then maybe we should work out a way to keep these people removed from society completly. At the moment we release them with fingers crossed.
The other option is to try and work out the psychological and sociological motivations of these people and actually be confident that when released they wont harm others. (Eg Whoever actually deems the person fit to be released is accountable if they rape again.)
The toughest of all the choices but the only humane one if you arent going to elliminate them from our planet.
Comment by Matt
The problem i have with a register is that it may (and rightly so) allow parents to object to ped's moving to the area, which is fine. But where do they live? I don't think it's possible to just herd them into a camp on the outskirts of a town, they may as well be in prison.
It's a tough call, i'm glad im not the one making it!
Excellent blog by the way, always a fantastic and insightful read *clicks ads*
Comment by Big Cat
Chatterpillar
Here in NSW, the child protection register puts all the onus on the police, not vigilantes, with a case management file that police crime officers have to maintain on each and every person convicted of a sexual offence against children. This allows them to include even those deemed unlikely to re-offend, taking no chances. Even ones that did it 30 years ago and got brought to justice in the retrospective period of the NSW law. They are all required to register where they live, where they are employed, the rego number of the car that they drive, details in advance of any trip they plan to make and change of address within two weeks of the change.
Local police crime officers phone them for updates. There is immediate remand prison for breaches. Any complaints against the person cause a formal police interview of that person, with head office case management chiefs making sure that the police don't go slack on any complaint.
It has been made crime for registrees to apply for work, even voluntary work, in places where children are involved. Public libraries and many other lines of work are out of bounds. Even by applying for such work, they risk remand prison under the Summary Offences Act, while police take their time to produce the charges. Recently working with the elderly was put on the no-go list too.
Sure, JohnDoe. Prison sex therapy is woeful and being in jail isn't curing them. But sensible past offenders can see that here is a police system after jail for those fair dinkum about not ever offending again. They can see that their local police crime officer encourages them to seek counselling and to self-report any dangers that they feel that they may be coming into. This makes the police case management something to be adhered to and supported, not resisted - by the sensible ones. That's a lot better than seeing vigilantes "tar and feather" them along with the worst offenders.
It's a good system that's working better than what most US states have been pressured into doing. Recent additional requirements in the case management reporting have been added, after child advocate groups pressed for them. Since 12 months ago, court orders can be got against registrees seen loitering near schools, etc, making it remand prison under the NSW Summaries Offence Act if they breach. Even the names of children with whom they come into contact now have to be advised to the case management register, and any clubs, churches or other activities that they join that risks them coming into contact with children. Children's advocate groups continually press for more additions to the restrictions on these hated members of society.
That's the best way - build on an existing system that's proven superior to what they have in states of USA. Why try something like the public register here? Just for the sake of trying it?
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
At the moment it seems its a "hey we did our best, now lets release them and hope they dont sodomise some 5 year old."
Out of curiousity what are the odds of a pedophile reoffending once released from their cage in Australia.
Do more than 50% act sensibly or is a minority for which this system works.
Comment by Legally Brunette
My Wedding
John Doe - I must say, I have absolutely no faith in the rehabilitation system. Ideally, all prisoners would be rehabilitated and on release they would never commit another crime. But in reality, so many offenders go out and re-offend. I guess the point of locking them up in the first place is to filter through those who are capable of rehabilitation. And those who aren't, well that's where something like the public register might come in handy ? Also, from what I gather (and I couldn't find statistics on this) on an international level, sex offenders quite often do re-offend - Megan and Sarah's killers are but two examples. They are the reasons why the public register came about in the first place. Btw, will definetly watch the movie!
Matty - Firstly, thanks for the nice comment
Big Cat - You put forward a valid point. I do think however, that there is a fundamental flaw with our system - it puts too much trust in convicted offenders and quite frankly, I don't want to have to trust them. Sure, it works for those who really want to integrate into society and who have rehabilitated their criminal ways, but what about the others? How many "sensible past offenders" do you really believe exist?
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Now it comes down to the question, Is it humane to keep someone locked up for the rest of their lives? Or is it kinder to pull the plug?
Personally, I know Id rather be killed, than go through a pointless excercise like life in jail if I was guilty and unchangeable.
The money saved could be used for better rehabilitation facilities for those who stand a chance of reentering society.
.
Comment by Big Cat
Chatterpillar
If we still had the old system of no police monitoring when the released person's parole period is over, then only those pedophiles with good self-management, who are really trying to change, would be safe to have in society. Maybe 50 percent.
Having the recently introduced and continually reinforced police monitoring that I described before probably nearly doubles the percent able to be considered safe. These are the majority that the public doesn't hear about, while the press isolates exceptions.
I too would like to know the official re-offending percentile for pedophiles, because a lot of unsubstantiated claims are made on the high side, based on re-offending committed by individuals over periods prior to being caught and before being released into the new system of the police register.
Imprisoned pedophiles now get taught cognitive therapy, the one thing for which prison sex therapy is reliable. This reinforces self-management including in those that aren't naturally good at it, before being released back into society on the register.
Having police crime managers case-managing them also helps more of them stay sensible. Registered pedophiles know that crime managers' use of the NSW Summary Offences Act will put them in remand prison the moment there's any complaint, where police are reasonably confident that the charges will stick.
This means an immediate one-way trip to police cells, then on to Sydney's Silverwater Remand Centre, a hell where pedophiles' lives are at risk for the duration while the legal system makes court arrangements.
It's a huge deterrent. "Rock spider" bashing is a daily occurrence at Silverwater. There have been deaths and maiming. In main prison, young drug pushers don't feel like the lowest of the low when they have weaker, middle-aged and older pedophiles nearby to point to, and to threaten to impress their mates.
Policing of drug-related crime has filled NSW's prisons to two, sometimes three to a double-bunk cell. Even when a single cell is available, pedophiles don't get the safety of them because most are put on "suicide watch", whether they merit it or not. So Prison duty-of-care pairs them up with anyone at all, rather then leave them alone.
That's two guys in a stink hole of a cell like a small public block concrete toilet, with the toilet bowl beside the double bunk.
It's not unknown for a NSW prison guard to deliberately pair a pedophile with a violent male rapist, in the hope that the pedophile will be raped and taught a lesson. Guards like this don't consider whether the pedophile got his name from being charged with high-end under-age rape or with low-end indecent obscene exposure to a minor.
Sydney's Silverwater is a really strong deterrent to pedophiles in society who might gravitate back to old ways towards children. They know it's quite likely in re-offending that they will be locked up with another, more dangerous inmate 23 hours a day. That's because pedophiles are put on "non-association protection" from the main prison population, which means getting just one hour a day out of the cell. It's like people put on solitary confinement. But being paired with a potentially violent inmate in a dark stink hole of a cell is a much more fear-inducing experience than solitary confinement under bright lights.
Every pedophile released onto the police register from NSW prison knows these things by past observation and/or bitter experience. Silverwater is in a sad state of affairs, yet it's a very good deterrent to back up the redress of the NSW Summary Offences Act. That's the act that makes registered child offenders in effect guilty until proved innocent in a court hearing, which they get to attend by prison van out of Silverwater. (Prison vans are a hell hole too - re the killing of an Auckland teenager in one earlier this week.)
Maybe the change we need most right now is public airing of these realities about prison, so never-convicted child molesters get to read about the consequences. That would attack the child sexual abuse syndrome. According to a local Christian ministry in child abuse , the hidden propensity of men to sexually abuse children in the family is one in every 20. And that's not about an Aborigine parish!
Comment by RebeccaB
Political World
This was a great blog. I'm not sure if a register is a good idea but something needs to be done to stop the number of sexual assaults. It is a life sentence for victims so the punishment needs to be severe for the criminals. But violence against paedophiles doesn't solve what they did to their victim and this is why I'm uncertain whether a register would help solve the growing problem of sexual assaults.
Comment by Legally Brunette
My Wedding
BigCat - just out of interest, where have you obtained all your info from?
Comment by Big Cat
Chatterpillar
Comment by Anonymous
Paedophile register is good. I'd like to know where a he/she lives and to protect those kids. Kids have no idea about what is happening to them when these people abuse them. Yes they are being abused and all their innocents and childhood is taken away. Yes they (kids) do lead lives that are different to those that were not abused. If anyone you knew that you allowed your kids to be babysat by them (friend or family member), do you really think they would tell you that they were charged with "kiddie sex offences?" I doubt it. So at least you could check up. These paedophiles know how to work around children. They are smarter than children. They know how to manipulate children. They sometimes drug them or give them alcohol or promise them things in order for them to do sexual acts etc. It's wrong! So yes I wanna know where a paedophile lives, not that I would take law into my own hands but at least I would keep a much closer eye on them than necessary. I don't believe that they'll rehabilitate. Once a paedophile, always a paedophile. Sorry about that comment but I truly believe it's true. Why not start looking into the reasons why men/women turn into paedophiles, what makes them that way and then try and stop that from developing early in life instead of allowing it to happen and then when it's too late and someone's life is lost or damaged. Australia - be tougher!
Comment by Fingertip Titans Unite
Idiots Among Us
Fingertip Titans
Same in any other abusive situation, the victim becomes the perpetrator. Sad but true. of course, there are also those who just think it up, but for the most part, something has happened that has warped their sense of right and wrong, and they objectify children, to be used, just like they were. Some very thought provoking posts.
Comment by Anonymous
After reading all that is on here i have to agree that something has to be done.As a mother of 2 young girls who been sexualy assualted by someone who had done it in past thou at the time we did not know as no one informed us he had spent time in jail for touching up a young girl 16 yrs before hand .They do groom them when i look back he had all these kids movies there and toys within his house and alot of kids from neighbourhood went over none of us thought he was like that till it happened to my girls.Worse still is he lives within 500metres of primary school state preschool and high school .The thing that gets to me thou is he is out on bail and able to get on with life whilst my daughters are struggling with all feelings anger got to the stage we had to move towns as being small rural town they was hurled abuse when we went down the st no child should ever be subjected to that at all .Some thing has to be about it.They shouldnt be released on bail
Comment by Anonymous
Picking up on the original thread: NSW Police breathed a sigh of relief when Peter Debnam didn't get elected, to implement his idea of trying the open register. That's the idea going public on the internet, etc, with names from the register that police currently keep to themselves, plus addresses.
"It would have upped the rate of malicious property damage and like in the US States where open registers came in under 'Meagans Law', sent 25 percent of the bastards underground," a local police crime manager told me.
Comment by Big Cat
Chatterpillar
Picking up on the original thread: NSW Police breathed a sigh of relief when Peter Debnam didn't get elected, to implement his idea of trying the open register. That's the idea of going public on the internet, etc, with names from the register that police currently keep to themselves, plus addresses.
"It would have upped the rate of malicious property damage and like in the US States where open registers came in under 'Meagans Law', sent 25 percent of the bastards underground," a local police crime manager told me.