Tuesday 24 June 2008

Govt moves to change sex offender laws

The Queensland Government will change its sex offender laws so more dangerous prisoners might be kept in jail indefinitely.

The Government commissioned a review of the Dangerous Prisoners' Act after community concern about the release of serial offender Robert John Fardon.

Police Minister Judy Spence says Cabinet has endorsed all 22 recommendations.

At the moment, violent offenders are only considered for indefinite sentences if the maximum penalty for their crime is life.

But the Government will take laws to Parliament later this year lowering that threshold to crimes that attract a 10-year sentence.

Ms Spence says it is just one change that has arisen from the review of the Dangerous Prisoners Act.

"As well the report recommends that in future Corrective Service officers will determine where sex offenders who are released from prison on supervision orders will live," she said.

"We will also allow Corrective Service offices to allow whether these people indulge in alcohol."

The Government also wants voluntary chemical castration to be offered more frequently.

"In some cases chemical castration can help offenders who have high levels of sexually deviant arousal or high levels of libido," Ms Spence said.

"But it can only work if the offender wants to participate in this program and the offender is willing to go along with psychiatric treatment at the same time."

Under the changes, prisoners who have been indefinitely detained will have their cases reviewed every two years instead of annually.

Quote: These draconian laws have nothing to do with the rehabilitation of sex-offenders nor do they account for what rehabilitation sex offenders get or have received in custody to date. On the contrary these draconian laws allow for the blatant disregard of prisoners’ rehabilitation whilst in custody and rely merely on warehousing such prisoners indefinitely because of the lack of programs in the prison system. What the community should be asking for is the alleged Corrective Services to show the community exactly what programs prisoners’ have received in custody to date, the reason for the failure to rehabilitate them in the first place, whilst they are in custody, before drafting draconian laws? Draconian laws mean that the government’s department of alleged Corrections has failed one of its mandates and instead of providing programs now expect taxpayers to foot the bill for their failure once again.

Related:

Draconian scheme to stop changing names
Convicted sex offenders who try to change their names to avoid detection will be stopped under a new national proposal.

New sex offender laws passed in Victoria

Sex offenders who have committed crimes against adults will remain under close supervision after their jail term ends under a new Victorian law passed through state parliament.

Serial rapist gets indefinite sentence
A serial rapist and paedophile whose crimes date back to the 1970s has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in jail.

Reduced sentence for female sex offender
A 35-year-old Melbourne woman who had sex with a 15-year-old boy has received a reduced jail sentence because treatment is not available to female sex offenders in custody.

New jails ahead of crackdown
TWO new jails will be built in Victoria under a $600 million budget initiative designed to ease overcrowding in the state's prison system. The sex-offenders wing to be upgraded at Ararat Prison houses some of the state's worst pedophiles, including Brian Keith Jones, or Mr Baldy. He and others have completed their sentences but are deemed such a risk to the community that they are housed outside the prison walls but inside its perimeter, under extended supervision orders.

Tough new laws for sex offenders
Under the new laws, serial rapists could be made to wear electronic bracelets or be confined to houses within prisons.

Abusers free without treatment
HIGH-RISK sex offenders who need and want treatment are released without it because the state's only rehabilitation centre is ridiculously under-resourced, says a psychologist who worked on the program for a decade.

WA sex offenders missing out on rehab
It has been revealed that over the past year more than 60 per cent of sex offenders released from Western Australian jails did not complete rehabilitation programs targetting their crimes.

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