Point of View:  12-7-08                                                    "Protect child, not the phedophile" writes PETER FARIS, QC, a Melbourne criminal barrister in "The Courier-Mail" dated 9-7-08. Pedophiles are always in the news. This is because of one thing - a deep-seated fear in every parent that their child could be the next victim. The public concern is about protecting children from future assaults, not with punishing the pedo- phile.  Parents do not want revenge on offenders for their past conduct, they want to be absolutely certain that pedophiles will not offend again. I have practised criminal law all over Australia for the past 45 years and I am strongly of the view that pedophiles are very likely to reoffend. That raises serious questions about how to deal with them. First, there is the "warehousing" solution, which would lock them up forever. While this is appro- priate for the worst offenders, it cannot be used against most of them. I do not believe that "counselling" works. You cannot retrain pedophiles or talk them out of further crimes. And chemical castration has failed. Supervision orders for a long period after jail release depend upon the pedophile obeying the rules and not being caught in breach of them. It is all very well having a rule that they cannot go within 500 metres of a school - but that cannot be enforced every day for every pedophile. Parents want to protect their children. I can remember the constant anxiety of my wife and I as our two children grew up. Another way to increase protection of children is knowledge. Knowledge of who the pedophiles are, what they look like and where they live. Megan's Law was created for this purpose. On July 29,1994, seven-year-old Megan Kanka was kidnapped, tortured, raped and then murdered by 33-year-old Jesse K. Timmendequas, who, over a period of 15 years, had been convicted of serious sexual assaults on young girls in the US. Timmendequas lived with two other convicted sex offenders across the street and lured the girl into his house by offering to show her a puppy. He was convicted and sentenced to death but was saved when New Jersey abolished the death penalty in 2007. He remains in jail. The grieving parents took action and, by doing so, not only made sure their daughter would always be remembered but also saved the lives of countless other young children. They quickly gathered 400,000 signatures on a petition aimed at the proposition "Every parent should have the right to know if a dangerous sexual predator moves into their neighborhood". Within a short time, the New Jersey legislature passed the law. Now most US states have done the same. What is Megan's Law? Well, it is really quite simple. It requires the authorities to keep a public register of serious sexual offenders, particularly pedo- philes. Upon release from jail, the pedophile must register his address and notify of any change. And non-compliance is a serious criminal offence. The register is made public. A citizen can see the pedophile's name, address, photograph and criminal history. Sometimes the state puts this up on the internet. The best example is California, which has an interactive map which enables you to locate every sexual offender in your neighbourhood and, with one click, to get all their details. Is this fair to pedophiles? Probably not but that is not the issue! Pedophiles are put on notice that the public believes their crimes to be so foul and the risk of re- offending so high that something must be done. If you choose to sexually assault children, then this is one of the consequences of your conduct. If you do not want to be on the register, then don't do the crime. The protection of children outweighs the rights of the pedophile. This is why Megan's Law has worked in the United States. I ask you to support similar laws throughout Australia to better protect our children. How does Megan's Law help protect children? Obviously, no law can ever prevent pedophilia but what this law does is to give parents knowledge of which pedophiles live near their home or school will greatly assist parents to better protect their children. For example, if a man is seen frequenting the school at home-time, a parent might be a little troubled, but do nothing about it. But if the parent knows this man is a local pedophile, then he would be reported immediately and charged. Another example is that if a pedophile lives close by, parents may choose to buy or rent elsewhere. Such knowledge is a very powerful thing. Much more information is available on the internet. I suggest you Google "Megan's Law", read the material and then have a good think about your own children.                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   I sincerely appologies to Peter Faris QC and The Courier-Mail for having republished this article without   having first obtained their permission. It is my absolute belief that such valuable information and disclosures   as stated by the author must be available to as many people as possible and should not be hidden in just   one newspaper!............ Hans Hagen (webmaster) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to: HOME         Back to: Point of View