Imprison public servants who leak sex offender’s information

“Public servants who choose to leak sex offender’s information to the public should be imprisoned”, says Kim Workman, spokesperson for Rethinking Crime and Punishment.

“It is one of the few cases I can think of, where imprisonment could act as a deterrent. Public servants, who manage that sort of information, are well educated, rational, intelligent people, who make a deliberate decision to leak information about offenders. The impact of leaking that information often has a devastating effect on the offenders’ victims, their family, their employment and their personal safety.

“A clause in the legislation which provides a term of imprisonment for public servants who choose to create that sort of misery, should act as a deterrent to those who are tempted to leak this information. At the very least they should be dismissed from the public service.”

Minister Tolley is presenting Cabinet with a well thought out strategy, which is based on the experience and evidence of other jurisdictions. The decision not to make the information public is wise, and the policy will go some way to protecting the public from predatory sex abusers. The one chink in the strategy is that inevitably, some public servant will leak the information. It is one case, where the promise of prison could well act as a deterrent.
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