Paedophilia poses problems for sunshine state
Thu 01 September 2005
Leah O'Reilly, Journalism
The innocents of Australia have become the faces of pornography on the web. A crackdown dubbed Operation Auxin resulted in the investigation of over 700 suspected paedophiles nationwide and led to 228 arrests in 2004.
Operation Auxin was part of a worldwide investigation by the FBI into Internet child pornography, known as Operation Falcon.
In Queensland there were 58 arrests and 73 computers were seized. 
Team leader of Queensland's Crime and Misconduct Commission's paedophile investigation unit, Acting Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said in a report that the organisation's focus is not just about arresting people who are trawling chat rooms looking for children to engage in sexually explicit conversations.
“We are targeting people who are out to physically assault kids.
These people attempt to lure children from the safety of their homes to a location where they can sexually assault them,” Detective Inspector Asnicar said.
Following the recent arrests in Queensland, Carol Ronken, advocacy officer of Bravehearts, a charity for children who have been abused, said it is encouraging that the law enforcement agencies have been so successful in the investigation and locating those who use the Internet to access child pornography.
“What needs to be remembered is that each and every one of these individuals is a sex offender,” Ms Ronken said.
“Those who were caught up in this net have been caught for possessing, downloading or distributing child pornography. Behind every photo there is a child victim and each time someone accesses or downloads an image they are contributing to the abuse of children.”
A Queensland Police Services 2002 to 2003 statistical review revealed that Central Queensland had a substantial increase in other sexual offences resulting in the majority of offences being indecent treatment of children.
"There are some who think breaking the law online is somehow less serious than doing it in the 'physical world'." |
Acting Commissioner for Children and Young People, Barry Salmon says the commission supports the government's recent announcement for tougher sentences.
“Maximum penalties for procuring children for pornography and for producing pornography have been increased to 10 years jail.
"The penalty for possessing child pornography has more than doubled from two years to five years,” Mr Salmon said.
“In addition, the Queensland Government increased penalties in November 2002 for indecent treatment of children, making them the toughest in the nation.”
However, Ms Ronken says Queensland needs logical sentencing, and intervention and prevention programs that work.
She says Australia needs indefinite sentencing which allows the system to protect children by keeping an offender incarcerated until such time as he or she is no longer a threat.
"This is one step towards ensuring a safer community," Ms Ronken said.
"Sex offenders should attend and complete rehabilitation programs before they are released and there should be post-release programs in place that continue the rehabilitative efforts outside prison."
The crackdown resulted in an alarming number of public officials accused of child sex crimes. As the Queensland Government's Department of Families says: “children are more likely to be abused by someone they know than by a stranger.”
Links:
Australian Federal Police - Operation Auxin September 2004 (pdf)
Australian Federal Police - further information about the crackdown.
Image(s) designed by Gill Cowden