CAISO: Attend to sex offenders

ACTIVIST group CAISO on Thursday urged that sex offenders be rehabilitated and banned from working with children in their comments on a committee’s report on the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill 2019 due for debate in the Senate later that day.

CAISO began by praising the senate select committee (SSC) for heeding many suggestions of various social actors, such as weighing up each case to determine if a sex offender be named on a public register, so as to reduce the risk of vigilantism to offenders and collateral harm to their communities. The group also noted an expansion in the classes of people who must report child sexual abuse as ranging from schools principals and guidance counsellors to leaders of youth, faith and sports groups.

However CAISO had concerns about gaps in the committee amendments to the bill.

“The SSC amendments fail to mandate any clinical treatment or rehabilitation whatsoever for offenders as an element of sentencing or a condition of release.

“They do not include an enforceable obligation that those who work with children and vulnerable adults verify that their workers are not sex offenders, nor any mechanism (other than the public website) for persons with a need to know to confirm whether a prospective care worker or volunteer is an offender.”

CAISO suggested more crimes (anal rape and forced oral sex) be registrable offences under the bill, requiring perpetrators to be placed on the register.

The group lamented that a requirement for offenders ending their registration period to petition the court to be removed from the register would favour well-off offenders.

They complained the SSC amendments would still put sex workers on the register among individuals registrable for living on the earnings of prostitution.

CAISO regretted that the amendments limit risk assessment for sentencing and registration of offenders to be done only by psychiatrists, explaining, “Sexual offending is driven by culture and gender norms, not just psychopathology.”

CAISO offered four suggestions.

Firstly, the bill must mandate rehabilitative treatment for all sex offenders to prevent re-offending.

Secondly, CAISO named other acts to be included in the definitions of rape and grievous sexual assault respectively under the Sexual Offences Act.

Thirdly, CAISO urged that only perpetrators of human trafficking and procuration of people to be prostitutes should be listed on the offenders register as those living off of prostitution, but not the sex workers themselves.

Fourthly, the word "psychiatrist" in the bill should be replaced with "qualified psycho-social professional.”