Penalty redoubled

The real victims of this policy, which is based on fear rather than fact, are the many people who find their names on the register. They are not only punished by serving a term of imprisonment or by way of a fine or a community corrections order but are then subjected to outrageous curtailment of their liberties by being placed on the register, regardless of whether they will commit a further offence.

What needs to happen is for politicians to review the present one-size-fits-all policy which potentially dumps every case - from indecent exposure to aggravated rape - into the one category and focus their efforts on those offenders who are at a high risk of reoffending.

As the Canadian government study observed: “Rather than considering all sexual offenders as continuous, lifelong threats, society will be better served when legislation and policies consider the cost/benefit break point after which resources spent tracking and supervising low-risk sexual offenders are better redirected towards the management of high-risk sexual offenders, crime prevention and victim services.”

What a pity we are wasting valuable taxpayers' money on a political stunt like the Community Protection Register instead of adopting strategies to deal with the highest-risk offenders.

While we're at it, how about the parole and prison authorities stop insisting that all sex offenders undertake the sex offenders’ treatment program in prison and, instead, simply focus on the highest risk cases.

We must not allow policy in this sensitive area to be driven by vigilante instincts but by hard evidence.