China to build child sex offender database

[china.org.cn – 8/3/19] China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) announced Friday that a national database of child sex offenders will be established. The SPP will also promote the building of relevant inquiry and restriction mechanisms for candidates seeking employment related to minors, said Shi Weizhong, a senior prosecutor with the SPP, at a video conference on inter-agency protection of rural left-behind children and children living in difficulties. Over 3,600 suspects have been prosecuted for criminal offenses against rural left-behind children since 2018, according to Shi. In the following phase, the procuratorate…

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Nigeria: NAPTIP Launches Sex Offenders Register To Name And Shame Rapists

[channelstv.com – 7/28/19] The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP) has announced plans to launch a sex offender register to name and shame rapists and offenders of other forms of violence against persons. According to the Director General of NAPTIP, Julie Okah, the implementation of the register is aimed at putting an end to all forms of violence against persons in private and public life, and to provide maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders. “The spate of this mindless abuse of…

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Bahamas: Sexual Offences Court Could Have Disruptive Impact

[tribune242.com – 7/4/19] JUSTICE Bernard Turner yesterday expressed concern that the establishment of a sexual offences court could have a “disruptive impact” as legal counsel may already have matters scheduled for other courts. Speaking during yesterday’s session of the National Crime Council, Justice Turner also said judges undergo sensitivity training to deal with these kinds of matters. Justice Turner was also asked his views on the establishment of the sexual offender’s registry. While he declined to comment specifically, he noted communities have an “obligation to protect themselves” without “unnecessarily stigmatising…

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Bahamas: ‘Don’t Let Public See Sex Register’

The country’s leading counselling and advocacy services provider for abuse victims does not want a sex offender register to be made public. Dr Sandra Dean-Patterson, director of the Bahamas Crisis Centre, said a public register would be ineffective and would lure people into a false sense of security. Her comments when contacted yesterday came after the government published draft regulations for a sex offender registry earlier this month on its website. Full Article

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Israel: Labor’s Gabbay apologizes for calling former MK a ‘sex offender’

[israelnationalnews.com – 6/10/19] The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court accepted the compromise reached between Labor Party Chairman Avi Gabbay and former Labor MK Eitan Broshi in the libel suit filed by Broshi against Gabbay. Gabbay, who called Broshi a sex offender, was ordered to publicly apologize to Broshi and pay him NIS 40,000 in compensation. Read more  

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England: Success! Kylo the Hero Dog Gets to Come Home

[care2.com – 5/30/19] Last summer, a mob of 20 angry men showed up at the residence of a young couple in Bristol, U.K. The men believed that this was the home of a registered sex offender, and they refused to leave even when the couple explained that the person they were seeking no longer lived there. The group didn’t believe the young couple and began attacking them. That’s when their five-year-old dog Kylo, a Staffy Cross Labrador, jumped into action and ran off 15 of the men. But the remaining…

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China: Restrictions on child sex offenders

[shanghai.gov.cn – 5/30/19] Sex offenders will no longer be able to work for local enterprises, public institutions and social organizations that involve contact with children, the Shanghai People’s Procuratorate announced yesterday. It issued a document on an employment restriction system to cover all city enterprises, public institutions and social organizations which have special duties in regard to minors, such as guardianship, education, training and help, day care and medical care. They include kindergartens, primary and middle schools, nurseries for children under 3, children welfare institutions and training schools, medical institutions,…

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AUS: Child Sex Offender Register Could Become Reality After Coalition’s Shock Win

Following Coalition’s shock election victory, a public sex offender register posited by the political alliance in Australia could soon become reality. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton suggested in a January news release that information about the crimes of pedophiles be added to a national child sex offender registry—including the perpetrators’ names, aliases, and photos. “It would have a strong deterrent effect on offenders and ensure that parents are not in the dark about whether a registered sex offender has access to their children,” Dutton said at the time. Full Article

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Singapore: Suspended sentences: Sex offenders should undergo psychological evaluation, treatment

[singaporelawwatch.sg – 5/14/19] In dealing with sex offenders with mental illness, the best solution may not be rehabilitation, says the writer. Assistant Professor Benjamin Joshua Ong’s idea of imposing suspended sentences on voyeurs is a good one (“NUS case: Suspended sentence in place of police warning will have added benefit of judicial oversight”; May 9). These include jail sentences passed by a court that do not take effect if offenders comply with conditions, such as refraining from re-offending, attending counselling sessions, or staying away from certain areas or persons. The…

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Guam: Mandatory rather than optional chemical castration for sex offenders sought

[guampdn.com – 5/14/19] A new bill seeks to make chemical castration among Guam’s sex offenders released on parole mandatory, rather than optional or voluntary, under a 2015 law that’s never been enforced. “The intent of the legislation is to add more teeth to an existing mandate,” Sen. James Moylan, R-Tumon, said in introducing Bill 137 on Tuesday. The objectives are not only to reduce recidivism among convicted sex offenders, but also to keep the community safe, the senator said. Moylan’s bill would make the hormone or anti-androgen treatment program, also…

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Tasmanian Speaker Sue Hickey votes against her own government again

[theadvocate.com.au – 5/1/19] Speaker Sue Hickey has scuttled the government’s attempts to impose mandatory sentences on serious child-sex offenders. In making her casting vote on Wednesday night, Ms Hickey said she was surprised a bill, which had already been rejected by Parliament once before, had been reintroduced without amendments. She said she had taken advice from legal professionals opposed to mandatory sentencing provisions in reaching her decision and was worried about unintended consequences arising from its implementation. Attorney-General Elise Archer in the debate said mandatory sentences sent a strong message…

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Bahamas: Dames: No Stats To Support Us Crime Claims; Timeline for the sex offender registry

[tribune242.com – 4/24/19]   NATIONAL Security Minister Marvin Dames said yesterday he didn’t have any statistics to back claims from a recently released United States report that crimes against its citizens in this country had increased. … Officials are also making progress toward the implementation of police body cameras and the creation of a sexual offenders registry, he said. … As for a timeline for the sex offender registry, Mr Dames said officials were pushing to make it public as soon as possible, adding: “There is a lot of planning…

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Fiji: Support for lifetime registration on sex offenders registry

[fbcnews.com.fj – 4/25/19] The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights is currently receiving submissions on the Sex Offenders Registry Bill. The Committee started their Northern tour with public consultations in Lagalaga and Vunivutu village. Committee Chair, Alvick Maharaj says the turnout has been overwhelming with more than a 100 Fijians showing up at the Vunivutu Village hall to make submissions on the Bill. Article continues after advertisement Maharaj says generally the sex offender registry bill has been welcomed and seen as a possible deterrence to serious sexual…

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Australia: A public register of child sex offenders will do more harm than good

[smh.com.au – 4/4/19]   If politicians are looking for a sure fire vote winner then anything that punishes people convicted of sex offences does the trick. So there is likely to be little resistance to Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s budget announcement of $7.8 million to establish a National Public Register of Child Sex Offenders. Dutton is proposing that this register would allow all Australians to see names, aliases and photographs of sex offenders, as well as their date of birth, physical description and the “general location and nature” of…

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Canada: Sex-offender registry laws discriminate against mentally ill, court rules

[theprovince.com – 4/4/19]   Parts of federal and Ontario laws requiring sex-offender registration where an accused is granted an absolute discharge after being found not criminally responsible discriminate against the mentally ill and are therefore unconstitutional, Ontario’s top court ruled Thursday. While the court ordered information belonging to the man who brought the case to be deleted immediately from sex-offender registries, the justices also gave governments 12 months to fix the offending legislation, widely known in Ontario as Christopher’s Law. “Persons found (not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder)…

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Australia: Federal Budget dedicates $7.8 million for child sex offender list

[news.com.au – 4/3/19]   Australians will soon have access to a wealth of information about convicted paedophiles across the country after the Federal Budget allocated $7.8 million for a “name and shame” list. The Budget 2019-2020 provides $7.8 million to establish a National Public Register of Child Sex Offenders, an initiative the government hopes will provide a “nationally consistent approach to the public release of information about child sex offenders”. The register will allow Australians to see names, aliases and photographs of thousands of paedophiles, as well as their date…

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