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WA government to expose kid killers online
THE identities of child murderers will be posted on a public register, alerting families to where WA's worst criminals are living. The Sunday Times this week learnt that anybody convicted of murdering someone under 18 in WA would be added to a register of pedophiles and sex offenders to come into force later this year. For the first time in WA, the community will have access to a website that provides details, including photographs, of high-risk sex offenders living near them. Police Minister Rob Johnson and Attorney-General Christian Porter confirmed this week that the identities of child murderers once released from jail would be splashed on the government website. "Child murderers could conceivably be subject to publication on the government website," Mr Porter said. "If for example, they absconded whilst in the community, or of they had committed a further murder or sexual offence against a child. "This is plainly an appropriate and intended outcome of the legislation. "However, in practical terms this situation would rarely arise because of the low likelihood of a person being convicted of murder of a child ever being paroled,'' Mr Porter said. The national director of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, Tom Percy QC, said yesterday that the register would promote vigilantism. "We are approaching a system where we are handing over the justice system to rednecks and vigilantes," he said. "The potential for vigilantism is very real. "If we genuinely believe that rehabilitation is an underlying principal of our justice system, then this process runs contrary to any progress we have achieved in this regard in the last three decades." The website is expected to be operational by July. The Sunday Times (18-3-2012) Joe Spagnolo http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/wa-government-to-expose-kid-killers-online/story-e6frg143-1226303038389 |
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Sex offender register ready in July
The public will have access to the details of serious sex offenders after bi-partisan support saw the government's proposed register pass its last legislative hurdle. The register is expected to be operational by July after it was approved by State Parliament's upper house this afternoon. It will have three tiers according to an offenders' history. The most serious category - dangerous sexual offenders who have gone underground - will have their photographs and details such as date of birth, physical description, name, and known aliases published with full public access. Tier two would make the public aware of repeat or highly dangerous sex offenders in their area by making photographs available of those living in their postcode and adjoining postcodes. Offenders will receive 21 days' notice that their image and location will be made available on the website, and can lodge an objection with the police commissioner. Tier three will allow guardians to request information about a specific person who has access to their child at least three days per year. Applicants must provide their full details, the identity of the person of interest and the level of contact that person has with the child. Attorney General Christian Porter said the register provided families with greater protection against known sex offenders living in their communities. "The passage of this legislation today is a clear win for the people of WA and the rights of parents to be able to access information that may protect their children from sex offenders in their community," he said. The Labor Party agreed to support the bill out of fear it would be branded weak on sex offenders but said it fell short of offering adequate protection for children. Following passage of the Sex Offender Register Bill through parliament's lower house in December, opposition police spokeswoman Margaret Quirk said Labor still had numerous reservations about the register, most notably that it would send WA sex offenders interstate, while those who committed offences elsewhere would not be subject to the same scrutiny. "[There's] strong suggestion that other states will no longer share information of offenders moving interstate with us, so potentially you could have sex offenders moving [without knowing]," Ms Quirk said. Opposition spokesman on legal affairs John Quigley claimed the register would have minimal effect because it would only apply to 2 per cent of the state's 2500 sex offenders. He emphasised that Labor viewed the register as only one step in an incremental development of laws to protect children. Police Minister Rob Johnson has said safeguards, such as records of people accessing the website and strict penalties if information is misused, would be in place to ensure the register was used appropriately. www.watoday.com.au (8-3-2012) Courtney Trenwith http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/sex-offender-register-ready-in-july-20120308-1unf1.html#ixzz1ohaPqY9e |
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WA passes law to register sex offenders
CONTROVERSIAL legislation to set up a web-based register of sex offenders has been passed in the lower house of the WA parliament. The laws were passed with bipartisan support today, but are still to pass the upper house. The legislation will set up a three-tiered, website-based register that will allow members of the public to access the names and photographs of serious or repeat sex offenders who may be living in their neighbourhoods. The WA police union and the state's law society have attacked the proposed new laws, saying it could promote vigilante action and drive offenders who are currently being monitored underground. AAP (1-12-2011) http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/wa-passes-law-to-register-sex-offenders/story-e6freonf-1226211788311 |
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Vigilantes won't abuse sex offender register, says Premier
A REGISTER for sex offenders would protect children from danger, WA Premier Colin Barnett says. Premier Colin Barnett said that while his government's proposed sex offender register legislation would not be the perfect solution, there was no crime more heinous than an act of sexual abuse on a child. "This government has made a very clear choice and that is that if we have to err on one side, we will always err on the side of the child and protecting that child, and we will always err on the side of the right of a parent to know," he said. "I don't apologise for that, and I don't believe we'll see vigilante activities," he told reporters. The state government has introduced to parliament legislation to create a three-tiered register of sex offenders. The first tier would allow the public to see the names, photographs and personal details of sex offenders who have gone underground by failing to comply with their reporting conditions. Tier two would allow the public to access photographs of repeat or highly dangerous offenders living in the same postcode and adjoining postcodes. Tier three would allow guardians to make a request regarding a specific person who has regular unsupervised contact with their child. The bill has drawn criticism from the opposition, WA police union and lawyers. They say it is too tough and vigilantes could abuse the register. However, Mr Barnett said a lot of time had been spent striking the right balance for the bill, and there were safeguards in place to make sure the legislation worked. "If some people see this as tough and severe measures, then so be it," he said. AAP (9-11-2011) http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/vigilantes-wont-abuse-sex-offender-register-says-premier/story-e6frg14c-1226190463438 |
Law to list sex deviants online
WEST Australians will be able to see photos of sex offenders living in their area by entering their postcodes on a website. The move will come about as a result of legislation to be introduced in WA Parliament this week. For the first time, PerthNow can reveal how the Government's controversial public sex-offender register will operate. The register, which critics fear will spark vigilante attacks on pedophiles and rapists, was promised by Colin Barnett before the 2008 election. The register will allow anyone to: * Access photographs of repeat or dangerous sex offenders by putting their postcodes in a police website. * Access names, dates of birth, photographs and aliases of any child sex offenders being sought by WA Police, following a breach of bail or reporting conditions. * Ask police if a person who has unsupervised contact with their children for more than three days a year is on the register. Police Minister Rob Johnson said the murder of eight-year-old Sofia Rodriguez-Urrutia Shu at Canning Vale shopping centre in 2006 by Dante Wyndham Arthurs drove him to pursue a public register. "I believe it will provide parents with a tool to better protect their children and should be seen as complementary to common sense, vigilance, and teaching children protective behaviours," he said. "If this public register leads to one less child being sexually abused, it will have served its purpose." The legislation was last night welcomed by the parents of Sofia, Gabriel and Josephine Rodriguez-Urrutia Shu. "This Bill will be introduced the same week as Sofia would have turned 14 so it is a very emotional time for us," the couple said in a statement. "But if the register (even though we will probably never know) saves one child, then that would be a great birthday present for Sofia." Attorney-General Christian Porter said the rights of parents and guardians to protect their children outweighed the risk that released sex offenders could be persecuted. "This is an Australian first," he said. "We have borrowed models that have operated successfully in the US and in the UK and we have put in a hybrid system. "It's been a difficult process because you need the right balance. You have to balance the interest of parents and their right to have information . . . and you want to minimise the chance of people misusing the information. "I think we have struck the right balance here. But, ultimately, we want to fall on the side of parents' rights to have information that allows them to protect their children. We are not falling on the side of civil libertarian groups' views." But Australian Lawyers Alliance national director Tom Percy QC said the risk of vigilante reprisals was too great. "The media-driven hysteria about these offenders would make vigilante reactions a reality and, in the circumstances, an unacceptable risk for no tangible benefit in return," he said. The Government will spend $2.9 million setting up the public register and has committed a further $1.4 million a year for administration and operating costs. There are 12,596 offenders on the Australian National Child Offender Register, 2500 of whom live in WA. But details of sex offenders on the national register are known only to police and state and federal government authorities. What the WA Government will do is take the most serious sex offenders on the national register and make their details public. Mr Johnson said there were as many as eight sex offenders on the run in WA. Their pictures and details would be posted on the website for everyone to see as soon as the legislation was passed and new laws proclaimed, probably by early next year. Mr Johnson said it was expected that the photographs of at least 60 convicted sex offenders would be made available when the police website was up and running. Mr Johnson and Mr Porter warned that there would be severe penalties for anyone who abused the new laws. People could download pictures of the sex offenders only for private use. Anyone who distributed the photographs, published them or used them for vigilante activities could be jailed for up to 10 years. "We are trusting the people of WA to behave responsibly with the information," Mr Porter said. "We trust people will get the information for the means of protecting their children and not for any other purpose." The Sunday Times (5-11-2011) Joe Spagnolo http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/law-to-list-sex-deviants-online/story-e6frg143-1226186608113 |
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Parents demand Sofia's Law to expose pedophiles
THE parents of murdered eight-year-old Sofia Rodriguez-Urrutia Shu are calling for tough legislation - dubbed Sofia's law - to police pedophiles. Sofia's parents, Gabriel and Josephine, say they want to lend their daughter's name to a controversial law that would allow the names and locations of convicted pedophiles to be made public. In an impassioned plea to the state's Parliament, the devastated parents said the pendulum had swung too far in favour of pedophiles. They said it was time to reclaim the rights of all WA children. "Laws protecting children do not appear to fulfil that for which they were created,'' they said in a statement. "A public register might inform people of potential dangers in their neighbourhood and enable parents more effectively to take control of their natural role of protecting their children. "The focus should move from the rights of convicted pedophiles to our children's natural rights and security.'' Sofia was strangled when she went to the toilet at the Livingston Markets Shopping Centre last year. This week, Dante Wyndham Arthurs, 22, pleaded guilty to her murder. He was originally charged with the more serious crime of wilful murder, but prosecutors amended it to murder. They also dropped two counts of sexual penetration. It was also revealed that an earlier indecent assault charge against Arthurs involving another eight-year-old girl three years earlier was dropped. Convicted child sex offenders are placed on the Australian National Child Offenders Register and their movements tracked by police. But the information is not made public. Action group Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse have demanded a public register for a year. The Opposition pledged to introduce Sofia's law if it won power. Similar laws exist in Britain and the US. "We will implement a public register of pedophiles where mums and dads can check online whether they have a known pedophile living next to them.'' Opposition Leader Paul Omodei said. But the Government and police oppose the law saying it would drive pedophiles underground and increase vigilante attacks. The Sunday Times (21-9-2007) Braden Quartermaine http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/sofias-parents-want-new-laws/story-e6frg13u-1111114479575 |
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