The laws have been described as the toughest of their kind in the country
South Australia has announced that its new child sex abuse laws – described as the country’s toughest laws seeking to safeguard communities from child sex offenders – have taken effect as of this Monday.
The new laws prohibit the release of a child sex offender who has committed another serious child sex offence after already serving an imprisonment term, according to a news release from South Australia’s attorney-general.
An exception that would permit release is if the offender can show they are willing and able to control their sexual instincts and are no longer a threat to the community, the news release explained. Upon release, the offender will still be subject to electronic monitoring for their entire life.
The attorney-general said these laws aim to build upon other strict changes to child sex offender laws already introduced and passed by the state government. South Australia’s government has previously:
The state parliament also recently passed new measures seeking to strengthen the laws surrounding the prosecution of drug dealers and the confiscation of the proceeds of their crimes, announced another news release from the state government.
The attorney-general said the Crown will confiscate the assets of these drug offenders and transfer the proceeds to the justice rehabilitation fund, which aims to finance programs and initiatives supporting rehabilitation and crime prevention.
According to the news release, these legal reforms aim to equip courts and police officers with the powers to:
The attorney-general noted that the recently announced measures are part of South Australia’s legislative agenda on law and order.
