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AFTER 10 years, the protracted investigation into the disappearance and murder of Sunshine Coast teenager Daniel Morcombe has come to a close.
When information surfaced that the man found guilty of the crimes, Brett Peter Cowan, had previously served jail time for child sex offences, the attention of the community quickly turned to the justice system and its perceived failings in protecting the community from a known repeat sex offender.
However, dismayed by a perceived lack of will on behalf of the courts to continually detain offenders, Bravehearts CEO and founder Hetty Johston has now announced a limited sex offender register may be necessary for community safety.
While the organisation doesn’t advocate for broad community notification of paedophiles, Johnston says the community needs to be given a ‘fighting chance’.
“We have dangerous prisoners (sexual offenders) legislation across the nation in place now that can achieve this.
"While the public disclosure of sex offender’s information presents as an appealing kneejerk response to the risk released offenders pose to the community, Bravehearts does not support widespread community notification of paedophiles.”
The main arguments against establishing a public register include inadvertently revealing the name of the victim; branding innocent members of the offender’s family; victimisation of innocent individuals whose name or appearance could be confused with those of an offender; community anger or lawlessness; released paedophiles becoming likely to register; and registered paedophiles becoming more likely to ‘disappear’.
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