The Public Deserves to Know !!!

The Sensible Sentencing Trust is calling on Corrections Minister Anne Tolley to make the register for tracking convicted child sex offenders public knowledge.

“This is not about creating a register to allow people to ‘push’ child-sex offenders out of the community,” Nadia Crighton, Sensible Sentencing Spokesperson for the Prevention of Child Abuse says. “This is about coming together as a community to protect our children from dangerous predators.”

Ms Crighton is referring to comments made by Minister Tolley who noted that allowing the register to become public would allow communities to ‘drive’ child sex-offenders out.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11245090

“The fact is that naming these offenders will help stop the continuation of abuse, it will stop them reoffending,” Crighton says. “This is about protecting our children, it’s about time their rights come before those who want to abuse them.”

The register would be a police managed, with access by the Corrections Department and other government agencies, which deal with child safety.

SST is however, very happy that those who are in relationships with child-sex offenders will be notified of their past convictions.

“This will undoubtedly protect many children and is a huge step in the right direction, as too, requiring child-sex offenders to update their information regularly with police.”

The proposal includes ensuring information on those offenders is updated. The register will also work alongside regular assessments, monitoring and management.

The SST volunteers run an offenders’ database currently. You can search by numerous parameters here:
http://www.sst.org.nz/offenders-database/

ENDS

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