Lukewarm reaction to publishing of sex offender registry

Some children’s rights groups are concerned over the upcoming publishing of the Sexual Offenders’ Register.

They believe some potential offenders may see the list as an opportunity to gain notoriety.

Their remarks were in reaction to the news that the list will be made public at the end of this month.

Tears Foundation’s Interventions Supervisor, Kavya Swaminathan, says while this is not the silver bullet for the scourge, it could be effective when combined with other measures.

“It’s an unfortunate possibility that certain individuals with harmful or attention seeking tendencies could view the register as a twisted form of notoriety. This underscores why the criminal justice system must remain focused on prevention and rehabilitation rather than just on punitive measures,” she adds.

“I think publicising the names should be part of a wider strategy that includes education, counselling, and community support groups to reduce the overall instances of sexual offenses,” remarks Swaminathan.

A researcher at the University of Johannesburg, Lisa Vetten, believes that the publication of the National Sex Offenders’ Register is not a step in the right direction.

“I don’t think it really makes much of a difference or helps us in anyway in relation to addressing of sexual offenses in South Africa,” adds Vetten.

“Only a small number of sex offenders, which is 10%, ever go into that register,” she says.

According to the gender activist, 5% of sex offenders arrested for rape had previous convictions for other crimes.

Vetten says South Africa is safer knowing of those previous convictions other than just rapes the offenders were convicted for.

“In the US they’ve had Megan’s Law in place since the mid-1990s, which required states to publish on their websites or in different ways lists of those who had been convicted of sexual offenses. That has been in place for close to 20 years and researchers had started looking at what impact having sex offenders’ details public had over a 10-year period after Megan’s Law was introduced, and their conclusion was that it absolutely had no effect on whatsoever, except for just making life harder for sex offenders and their families,” explains Vetten.

She says child protection programmes need to be sufficiently funded to ensure their effectiveness.

“Our child protection services do not get the funding and resources that they require. We also do not have enough number of trained and competent people to address these services to be able to give support to families,” adds Vetten.

She advocates for records of offenders to be available for prospective employers’ benefit.

“The Department of Social Development also has an offenders’ register, but this one is for people who harm children generally, not only in relation to sexual offenses, and in some respect, it is a better register because it looks for those who have harmed children in any way through neglecting and abandoning them, physically abusing them, and sexually abusing them. Another strong aspect of that register is it does not just include those who have been convicted in the criminal court, but also in disciplinary hearings at schools and elsewhere,” adds Vetten.

Despite this, however, NGO, Action Society, believes that the authorities are on the right track in stemming the tide.

The organisation’s Juanita du Preez says the decision will assist communities to protect themselves.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, announced that the register will soon be published following calls over the years for the list to be made public.

According to a recent study by the National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) over 16 000 teachers have criminal records, ranging from sexual offences to murder. Written by Odirile Rabolao