If you are convicted of a prescribed sexual offence, you may also become a registrable person on the Child Protection Register. As a result, you will be required to report certain information for a number of years.
If you breach the conditions of the register, you will be committing a criminal offence.
Read our article below for more information.
How do I know if I need to be on the Child Protection Register?
You will be a registrable person if you commit a Class 1 or Class 2 Offence.
A Class 1 Offence includes:
A Class 2 Offence includes:
- Manslaughter of a child
- Sexual touching of a child
- Intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to a child
- Grooming or procuring a child for sexual activity
- Child abduction
- Possessing or disseminating child abuse material
How long will I be on the Child Protection Register for?
You will be on the register for 15 years, if you commit a Class 1 Offence. For a Class 2 Offence, the reporting period is 8 years.
However, it is possible to be on the register for life. This can occur if you’ve previously been on the register and you commit another registrable offence.
What will I need to do?
Being on the register will require you disclose a list of information to police. For example, your:
- Internet provider
- Mobile phone provider
- Mobile phone number and the number of phones or devices registered in your name
- Residential address
- Car registration
- The identity of any children you regularly come into contact with
- Any sporting associations you are a member of and where children may frequent
If the information you provide later changes, you will need to report that change immediately to police.
The police can also, at any point during the time the order is in place, apply to the Local Court for a further order which restricts your behaviour, such as who you can associate with.
If this application is made, you will be notified and given a chance to obtain legal representation.
To make the Order, the Court must be satisfied that ‘there is a reasonable cause to believe, having regard to the nature and pattern of conduct of the person, that you pose a risk to the lives or sexual safety of children and that the making of the order will reduce the risk’.
Breach of Child Protection Register Conditions
It is an offence not to comply with your reporting obligations. For example, if you forget to inform police if you change internet providers. It is also an offence to provide police with false information.
A failure to comply will result in a criminal charge being laid by police. Subsequently, you will receive a Court Attendance Notice requiring you to appear before the Local Court.
The maximum penalty that can be imposed is a fine of $55,000 and/or imprisonment for 5 years.
It is therefore a serious offence. Accordingly, you should obtain advice from an experienced criminal lawyer before you attend court.
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