Naming, shaming won't help child sex offenders - prosecutor

8-27-2008 New Zealand:

Naming and shaming child sex offenders who are released into the community risks creating further outcasts, and is not the answer, says a legal ethics expert.

Christchurch-based crown prosecutor Kathryn Dalziel told a privacy issues forum in Wellington today the reality was that "the child sex offender is a person in our neighbourhood, and so are children and the police".

Ms Dalziel teaches legal ethics at Canterbury University and is the sister of Associate Justice Minister Lianne Dalziel, who opened the forum.

Parents needed information to manage the risk for their children, but they did not need to know the detail, Ms Dalziel said.

"If we victimise one person and create them as outcasts, we aren't addressing the risk." Ms Dalziel cited the case of convicted paedophile Barry Brown, who was awarded $25,000 damages after suing police over a 2001 pamphlet drop advising residents of his release into the Wellington suburb of Strathmore. The pamphlet included his photo.

He was verbally and physically assaulted, and eventually forced into hiding.

"In that case the judge found there was a reasonable expectation of privacy, particularly of his photo and home address," Ms Dalziel said.

"The judge took the strong view that if you share information along these lines you create more likelihood that the person goes on to reoffend."

That was backed up by research from Canterbury University , she said.

There were also issues around the accuracy of the information. In Brown's case it was assumed he was a high risk of reoffending, which wasn't true, Ms Dalziel said.

"The experts' evidence was that if he was managed properly the risk would be reduced. There was no evidence he was reverting to risky behaviour."

Ms Dalziel said the simple solution of the death penalty, or imprisoning them away from the community for good, were not practical solutions.

It often happened that during treatment offenders revealed other offences that were not detected.

"If we rely on convictions solely, we do not have a strategy as a community to protect our community," she said.

There would also be no strategy for those offenders who had not yet been caught, she said. ..News Source.. by