Australia - Queensland moves to give parents access to sex offender info

Strangeworld

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http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...8217-information/story-fnihsrf2-1226668958989

[The article above is in the Courier Mail which has recently introduced pay-to-view articles. I can't find the article on news.com.au or any others news website yet, but hopefully by tomorrow it will be available. For now, you should be able to read it at the link above.]

:clap: :clap: :clap: Happy dance!! This is MASSIVE for Queenslanders, and hopefully the start of more improvements and legislation to protect our communities.


QUEENSLANDERS could be emailed photos of dangerous sex offenders who live nearby under moves being considered by the State Government.

And for the first time, parents may be able to stay a step ahead of predators by obtaining a background check of a person who has regular contact with their children.

If Queensland introduced the laws, it would be only the second state in Australia to do so, however, the UK and states in the US have similar legislation.

HOW OTHER SYSTEMS WORK

California - Megan's Law

* A person can search for a sex offender by name, or those living near a city, park or school.

* Anyone can look at the information on its Justice website, which includes a photo and

* The public has been able to view information on sex offenders since 1994. Prior, the information was available by visiting police stations and sheriff offices or by calling a 900 toll-free number

* The Department of Justice is required by law to score the risk of eligible sex offenders.
 
"Queensland Council for Civil Liberties vice-president Terry O'Gorman labelled WA's laws a gimmick and warned they could lead to offenders reoffending

``It doesn't do anything to protect the public,'' Mr O'Gorman said.

``Overwhelmingly, the percentage of sex offending occurs within the family or the extended family.''

Ms Johnston agreed that emailing photos and addresses of sex offenders would not work, and that it ``would probably drive them underground''."

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...8217-information/story-fnihsrf2-1226668958989


These people are the ones we DON'T want contributing to our laws. I don't care if a large % of sex offending happens in families. Even if only 1% occurred outside the family, why on earth is it so bad to know who these offenders are? When did their rights to privacy become more important than the rights of the rest of us?

I also don't understand the 'driving them underground' statement. If they are offenders, they are likely still on parole. Going underground would be a crime, and the police would need to follow up. If these offenders choose to commit a crime against society, then society has a right to know that we should cross the street when we see them coming.
 
It's understood that the Government is only considering releasing the details of dangerous sex offenders and not the 4000 sex offenders who are living in Queensland and listed on the Australian National Child Offender Register.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...8217-information/story-fnihsrf2-1226668958989

Unfortunate that they are not going all the way on this possible law change, but it's a start. Personally, I think any sex offender, regardless of severity of their crime/s, should be publicly accountable. No hiding names, addresses, or offenses.
 
I agree!

But - baby steps. At least this one's in the right direction, eh?

Good news. I like good news. :)
 
So true Ausgirl. Baby steps are better than backward steps. :)
 

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