Login
Serial sex offenders jailed ‘forever’ under new laws
The South Australian government will introduce stringent laws to keep serial child sex offenders imprisoned indefinitely.
Naomi Neilson
Premier Peter Malinauskas said the new laws will keep “dangerous, repeat offender paedophiles” behind bars “forever” unless they can prove “they are willing to control their sexual interests”.
“That is to say, that will be in jail indefinitely.”
The terms of the new laws have not yet been released, but Mr Malinauskas explained an offender would need to demonstrate to a court they will not offend again by undergoing two psychological assessments by court-appointed experts.
Mr Malinauskas said that if they then pass the “stringent test”, the offenders would then be subjected to electronic monitoring “forever”.
The new laws will fulfil the government’s promise in the lead-up to the 2022 election that it would improve child sex offence laws.
The government has already considered legislation to increase penalties, limit sentencing discounts, and ban offenders from working in places that are known to hire underage employees.
Mr Malinauskas said the new update would be “the most severe and toughest” yet.
“We want to be clear: dangerous repeat offender paedophiles should not be in our community where they pose a risk to children.
“These laws will keep them locked up, where they belong.
“Our community is rightly sick of seeing paedophiles offending again and again and then being released back into the community,” Mr Malinauskas told media.
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
