Repeat serious child sex offenders would be jailed indefinitely under laws introduced to State Parliament today.
The introduction fulfils an election commitment from the State Labor Government and, if passed, would give South Australia the toughest laws in the country when dealing with repeat serious child sex offenders.
The new laws would apply to offenders who have been imprisoned for a second time for a serious child sex offence.
Offenders jailed for a second serious child sex offence will be jailed indefinitely and will only be eligible for release if they can satisfy the court that they are willing and able to control their sexual instincts. Even if they are released, they will face electronic monitoring.
These proposed laws build on a number of other tough new changes to child sex offender laws introduced by the Malinauskas Government including:
- Increasing penalties for a range of child sex abuse offences, such as increasing the maximum penalty for gross indecency with or in the presence of a child from five to 15 years.
- Introducing legislation to ban child sex offenders from working in places that also hire underage employees, such as hospitality or retail.
- Strengthening Carly's Law, so that tough penalties apply to offenders who communicate online with police officers posing as fictitious children.
As put by Kyam Maher
We will do everything within our power to protect the community from vile child sex offenders.
Under these reforms, if jailed for a second time for a serious child sex offence, offenders will be locked up until they can prove that they are no longer a danger to the community.
These laws send a very strong message to those who have been locked up once for a serious child sex offence: offend again, and face detention for life.
It's the protection that all South Australian families deserve from these abhorrent criminals.
