AUSTRALIA
The Age
Bianca Hall
Reporter for The Age
Men who rape children under 12 are less likely to be jailed in Victoria, and are being jailed for less time than those convicted of raping adults.
The shocking statistics have emerged as Victoria’s Sentencing Advisory Council launches an investigation into what the state’s courts are taking into account when judging the seriousness of sexual offences against children.
The council is due to report to Attorney-General Martin Pakula on the sentencing of offenders convicted of the sexual penetration of a child aged under 12 in June.
Its own data shows that between July 2009 and June 2014, 72 men were convicted in Victoria of sexually penetrating a child younger than 12 (no women were convicted of the same offence in that period).
Of those men, 75 per cent were jailed. The median length of jail sentences was four years.
Almost 14 per cent received a wholly suspended jail sentence, and another 8.4 per cent were handed partially suspended sentences, community-correction orders or community-based orders. Another 2.8 per cent either received youth justice orders or had their charges discharged or dismissed.
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