A push to abolish suspended sentences for convicted child sex offenders will go to state parliament as part of a bill to overhaul punishments for paedophile rapists and abusers.without ever spending a day in jail – is calling on the state government to back the state opposition’s bill.
He said the catalyst for his call for change was his personal experience of watching the man who abused him as a child in the ’80s avoid a custodial sentence.“If an offence happened in 1985, you are tried, convicted and sentenced against the law of the day,” he said. “Others may be wrestling with: ‘Should I report what happened to me or should I not? Is it even worth reporting?’Shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien, who plans to introduce the bill into parliament this week, said that paedophiles had for too long exploited the legal loophole.Rather than serving jail time for their horrendous crimes, some child abusers were walking free, he said.
When asked about sentencing crackdowns late last year, after Carter’s story came to light, a Victorian government spokesperson acknowledged that the impact of sexual violence on victims could be profound and often have lasting consequences.“We know the re-traumatising effect seeking justice can have on sexual assault victim-survivors – that’s why we’re continuing to improve how the justice system deals with sexual violence,” they said at the time.