- Sex crims walk
- The Herald Sun
- 15/03/2009 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: The Rooster ( 258 articles in 2009 )
EXCLUSIVE: MORE than one in four pedophiles convicted for raping children under 10 escape jail terms, according to sentencing data.
And not one sex offender found guilty of rape received a maximum sentence in the five years to mid-2006.
The Crime Victims Support Association wants more done, including compulsory sex offenders programs, electric bracelet monitoring on release and optional surgical castration for recidivist sex criminals.
A Sunday Herald Sun investigation can reveal:
TWO-THIRDS of offenders convicted of sexual penetration of a child aged between 10 and 16 -- or 109 criminals - received no custodial sentence.
THE average sentence given for a number of different violent sex crimes was five times shorter than the maximum possible sentence.
AND pedophiles jailed for attacking children under 10 received an average sentence of three years, seven months - less than one-sixth of the 25-year maximum.
The data come from the most recent five-year snapshot by the Sentencing Advisory Council of the county and supreme courts for convicted offenders whose principal offence was rape or penetration of a minor.
The shocking revelations come after Chief Commissioner Simon Overland said some sex predators should be locked up for life.
Victoria's "kid gloves" treatment of sex criminals has come under consistent fire from crime victim advocates, who say notorious offenders have been given soft treatment, including:
DAVID Leslie Sims, the rapist chef, who walked from court after being convicted of breaking into a Melbourne woman's home and raping her twice.
PEDOPHILE Catholic school principal Marist Brother Gerard Joseph McNamara, 67, was spared jail for sexually abusing seven male pupils aged 11 to 14 in the early 1970s.
KEITH George Ryrie, who was sentenced to hang for raping and killing a girl, 5, in 1966, but whose sentence was commuted to 50 years, then a 26-year minimum, and who has been back in the community since 1993.
SERIAL rapist William Craig Forde, whose victims include a mother he raped 22 times, was given an indefinite sentence to be reviewed in 17 years.
Rape has a 25-year maximum jail sentence, sexual penetration of a child aged 10 to 16 under the offender's care has a 15-year maximum, and offences while not in offenders' care have a 10-year maximum.
But for the five years to 2005-06, the most anyone has received for rape as a principal offence was 20 years.
And 12 per cent of those, or 21 convicted rapists over the period, received no jail time.
The average jail time for rapists given a custodial sentence was five years - or one-fifth of the maximum sentence.
The average sentence given for pedophilia offences was also one-fifth or less of the maximum.
And not one sex offender found guilty of rape received a maximum sentence in the five years to mid-2006.
The Crime Victims Support Association wants more done, including compulsory sex offenders programs, electric bracelet monitoring on release and optional surgical castration for recidivist sex criminals.
A Sunday Herald Sun investigation can reveal:
TWO-THIRDS of offenders convicted of sexual penetration of a child aged between 10 and 16 -- or 109 criminals - received no custodial sentence.
THE average sentence given for a number of different violent sex crimes was five times shorter than the maximum possible sentence.
AND pedophiles jailed for attacking children under 10 received an average sentence of three years, seven months - less than one-sixth of the 25-year maximum.
The data come from the most recent five-year snapshot by the Sentencing Advisory Council of the county and supreme courts for convicted offenders whose principal offence was rape or penetration of a minor.
The shocking revelations come after Chief Commissioner Simon Overland said some sex predators should be locked up for life.
Victoria's "kid gloves" treatment of sex criminals has come under consistent fire from crime victim advocates, who say notorious offenders have been given soft treatment, including:
DAVID Leslie Sims, the rapist chef, who walked from court after being convicted of breaking into a Melbourne woman's home and raping her twice.
PEDOPHILE Catholic school principal Marist Brother Gerard Joseph McNamara, 67, was spared jail for sexually abusing seven male pupils aged 11 to 14 in the early 1970s.
KEITH George Ryrie, who was sentenced to hang for raping and killing a girl, 5, in 1966, but whose sentence was commuted to 50 years, then a 26-year minimum, and who has been back in the community since 1993.
SERIAL rapist William Craig Forde, whose victims include a mother he raped 22 times, was given an indefinite sentence to be reviewed in 17 years.
Rape has a 25-year maximum jail sentence, sexual penetration of a child aged 10 to 16 under the offender's care has a 15-year maximum, and offences while not in offenders' care have a 10-year maximum.
But for the five years to 2005-06, the most anyone has received for rape as a principal offence was 20 years.
And 12 per cent of those, or 21 convicted rapists over the period, received no jail time.
The average jail time for rapists given a custodial sentence was five years - or one-fifth of the maximum sentence.
The average sentence given for pedophilia offences was also one-fifth or less of the maximum.
Source: https://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25187255-5006016,00.html
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