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Child sex offenders will spend more time behind the bar after changes to existing legislation pass the South Australian (SA) Parliament on Thursday night.
Bill 2022, a legislative amendment (child sexual abuse) bill introduced in May, was submitted as part of the new government’s election pledge to better protect children and crack down on abuse.
The bill will increase the maximum penalties for severe obscenity with or with children from 5 to 15 years, but if you have a child’s sex doll, spend more than 10 years behind the bar. Will be.
Online predators who create, download, or share child abuse material are also subject to the new law.
Attorney General Kiam Maher said in a Friday announcement that the bill’s passage means that SA is one of the toughest states in the country in terms of protecting children and punishing predators.
“The Marinauscus government has taken a zero-tolerant approach to all vicious child sex crimes,” he said. “Penalties imposed on predators now better reflect the lifelong consequences left to victims.”
Closing the loophole in “Curly’s Law”
In addition, the bill strengthened Curly’s Law, giving police more confidence in hunting online predators.
Prior to the law introduced in 2018, it was illegal for an adult to pretend to be another person, lie to a child online about his or her age, and then try to meet the child.
50-year-old predator and pedophile Gary Francis Newman impersonates 18-year-old handsome musician Brandon Kane and lures 15-year-old Curly Ryan to a secluded beach where she is invited. After the killing ,.
The federal government has also inserted a version of Curly’s law into federal criminal law, which requires police evidence of intent to do harm.
The South Australian version, on the other hand, does not require evidence of intent to harm the child and the criminal faces five years in prison, but if there is evidence of intent to harm the child, the maximum penalty is 10 years. Is imprisonment.
But a Labor spokesperson said in September 2019 whether the police secretary was applied to the then attorney general based on the age at which they were allegedly victims on the computer, or criminals thought they were. ..
This meant that some criminals may not even be prosecuted, let alone trials and convictions. The new amendment allows one person to be prosecuted and convicted based on what appears to be another.
The main amendment to Article 139A of the 1935 Criminal Code Integration Act is the removal of the word “children”, which is replaced by “people under the age of 17 or those who believe they are under the age of 17 (victims)”. .. “
Another change under the new bill is the abolition of the vulgar image-based crime age category. That is, criminals who may have faced minor penalties if the victim’s age is unknown are now facing stricter penalties for all age groups.
“Our government has listened to survivors of child sexual abuse and their families. We are proud to provide strict new legislation to properly punish predators,” Maher said. Told.
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Steve is a Sydney-based Australian reporter with sports, arts and politics. He is an experienced English teacher, a qualified nutritionist, a sports enthusiast, and an amateur musician. Contact him at [email protected].
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