[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…
Read MoreCategory: International
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…
Read MoreAustralia: 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…
Read MoreCanada: 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)…
Read MoreAustralia: 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…
Read MoreMaldives: FPA establishes regulation for sex offender database
[raajje.mv – 3/29/19] The state’s Family Protection Agency (FPA) has on Thursday established a regulation for the database of sexual offenders in the Maldives. The Special Provisions Act to Deal with Child Sex Abuse Offenders, passed in 2009, makes it mandatory to establish a register for sexual offenders. Read more
Read MoreMalaysia: Child sex offender registry to begin operations from April 1
[freemalaysiatoday.com – 3/26/19] PUTRAJAYA: The child sex offenders registry will be made available from April 1 to help the public monitor sexual offenders. Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh said with the child registry in place, the ministry and the Welfare Department hope to protect children from repeat offenders. “Parents, school managements, childcare centres and even religious organisations can now use this registry to check on sex offenders. “As long as it involves working with children, they are encouraged to use the registry,” Yeoh said after launching…
Read MoreNigeria: Ekiti state moves to publicly shame sex offenders by displaying their photographs in prominent places
[alternativeafrica.com – 3/18/19] Ekiti State Government in the western zone of Nigeria Monday announced new measures aimed at curbing sexual violence, especially child defilement and rape in the state. The State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Wale Fapounda at a press conference to announce the new measures disclosed that persons currently standing trial for offence of child defilement and those whom the Director of Public Prosecution had issued a ‘case to answer’ legal advice for the same offense will henceforth undergo compulsory psychiatry test. Other measures according to…
Read MorePhilippines: US gives BI pat on the back for blocking 200 American sex offenders
The United States government has commended the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for preventing 200 American registered sex offenders (RSOs) from entering the Philippines in 2018. Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Friday the bureau was recently awarded a certificate of commendation by the US Embassy in Manila after registering the second highest number of excluded American RSOs throughout the world last year. Mexico, which shares a land border with the US in the southwest, recorded the highest number of intercepted RSOs. Full Article
Read MoreUK: University launches scheme to rehabilitate sex offenders
Sex offenders will be given support to help find a job and make new friends under a pioneering scheme run by a university and backed by police. The initiative aims to integrate people back into society to prevent them committing further crimes. Offenders will visit a centre, the first of its kind in the UK, where they will receive employment training – from management skills to writing CVs – as well as help with building a supportive social circle, finding new hobbies or learning basic skills such as cooking. The…
Read MoreEngland: Headteacher banned after ‘she didn’t disclose relationship with sex offender’
[birminghammail.co.uk – 2/6/19] A headteacher has been banned from the country’s classrooms after she failed to disclose her relationship with a sex offender. Caroline Riley, 54, dishonestly failed to reveal the courtship while she was head teacher at George Betts Primary School in Smethwick. She took over as head in 2009 and a Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) disciplinary panel found that the following year, despite advice to the contrary, she failed to disclose the relationship. The disciplinary panel also heard she misled an investigation into the situation by saying she…
Read MoreTrinidad AG: Child sex offenders will have passports marked
[stlucianewsonline.com – 2/6/19] The marking of convicted child sex offenders’ passports is one of the amendments in new sexual offences legislation, reported Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi. He was piloting the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill in the Senate today. He said borrowing from the Australian and US laws, the passports will say “child sex offender.” He added the individual will have the ability to possibly have the record expunged. Al-Rawi explained with the Sexual Offenders Registry, there will be a public database with limited information such as photo, name and address,…
Read MoreTrinidad and Tobago: Senator objects to public naming of sex convicts
[guardian.co.tt – 2/5/19] At least one Independent Senator is not in support of the names of sexual offenders going public. Sophia Chote, SC, said that this has the potential of opening the floodgates for vigilante justice in T&T. Chote made the comment in the Senate on Tuesday during her contribution on the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill to create a sexual offenders registry. She said making the names of sexual offenders public will also stigmatise the name of the convicted person. “So if the T&T Police Service has a list of…
Read MoreAntigua & Barbuda To Implement Sex Offenders’ Registry
[stluciatimes.com – 2/2/19] Antigua Observer:- Residents will soon be alerted when a sex offender moves into their neighborhood. Attorney General and Public Safety Minister Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin made that disclosure in Parliament this week. Once convicted, the names of all sexual offenders will be placed on a public registry. This news follows the establishment hereof a Sexual Offences Model Court last month. Benjamin, the Parliamentary representative for St. John’s City South, issued a direct warning to the offenders. “Leave the children alone. I am going to make sure that that…
Read MoreNew Zealand: Public vilification a factor in Wellington academic sentencing
[stuff.co.nz – 1/28/19] Convicted sex offender ______ likely received a lesser sentence because of the potential “vilification” he would face, a leading criminal lawyer says. John Miller, who was a former senior law lecturer at Victoria University and previous Wellingtonian of the Year, said the Sentencing Act 2002 set out mitigating and aggravating factors in sentencing offenders, and a number of those factors would have been taken into account. Appearing before Judge Stephen Harrop at Wellington District Court on Friday, ______ was sentenced to eight months of home detention for…
Read MoreAustralian girl, 12, ‘had no idea about pregnancy’ until childbirth at home
[tert.am – 1/26/19] A 12-year-old girl who gave birth at a home in Western Australia could be charged over the pregnancy – along with the baby’s father. Youth Legal Service WA solicitor Sally Dechow said the charges could be brought against the pair as the conception was considered illegal under state law, The West reported. … WA Police believe the baby’s father is a child of similar age to the mother and was 11 at the the time of the pregnancy. Ms Dechow pointed out even though the pair are…
Read MoreSouth Africa: Call for sex offenders’ list to be made public
[www.iol.co.za – 1/24/19] DURBAN – Child rights organisation Save the Children has launched an online petition calling on Police Minister Bheki Cele to make the National Registrar for Sex Offenders (NSRO) public. The NSRO is not available to the general public, but only to those who employ people who work with children or disabled people. The list helps with protection by ensuring the names of sex offenders are registered in order to prevent them from working with children and the disabled. Nicolette Myburgh, the director of social services at Tutela,…
Read MoreKat’s Blog: Blimey, Who Does Australia’s Fact Checking?
Peter Dutton, Minister for Home Affairs in Australia wants to be the white knight riding in to save his constituents from “sex offenders” by proposing a National Public Registry. “Thwarting the exploitation of children is my key priority as Minister for Home Affairs” says Dutton. Fact #1: That’s all well and good, except Australia already has state-based registries with various levels of public accessibility in Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Even with those state-based registries, there has been a 77% rise in child sex abuse and exploitation of…
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