Source: theconversation.com 8/26/25
Queensland is creating a public child sex offender register. Will it keep people safer?
The Queensland government will this week table legislation creating Australia’s first public child sex offender register.
The Queensland legislation, to be known as Daniel’s Law, was named in honour of Sunshine Coast teenager Daniel Morcombe, who was abducted and murdered by a sex offender more than two decades ago.
But will this new legislation actually work to make children (and the public) safer? Will it act as a deterrent for those contemplating offending or re-offending?
How will the Queensland laws work?
First, let’s look at the Queensland proposal.
Queenslanders will be able to access a searchable database where images and details (names and ages) of offenders who have failed to comply with their reporting obligations (and whose whereabouts are unknown) will be available.
The government assures Queenslanders that safeguards will be put in place to prevent the misuse of information, including protections against vigilantism.
It’s understandable there might be public pressure to establish such a public database. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse highlighted the tragic impact child sexual assault has on victims. Governments should be seeking to pursue policies that best prevent sex offending and curtail repeat offending.
Versions of this approach exist in other jurisdictions. There’s a Community Protection Disclosure Scheme in Western Australia, where parents and guardians can make limited enquiries through the police. But there is no public database.
And all states and territories have non-public registries where convicted sex offenders are monitored by law enforcement agencies.
What does the research tell us?
There’s a lot of evidence about the effectiveness of registration and notification schemes from reviews conducted over the last 15 years, especially in the United States.
This evidence shows all forms of registries are highly unlikely to …
Spot on article, missing only that the registry has never provided anything to a criminal investigations outside of registry violations in the past 30 years.
This article should be sent to members of Congress and lawmakers in all 50 states. If the registry is so great why hasn’t the government shared all the cases the registry has prevented or solved in the last 30 years. From what I’ve seen the registry has caused injuries, harassment, murder, and scams of those forced to register along with their family members or an innocent person with the same name. Time for the United States to abolish the registry