NEWCASTLE (AUSTRALIA)
Newcastle Herald
February 6, 2021
By Sage Swinton
When Maitland Pastor Bob Cotton’s hard-fought push to increase penalties for concealing child sex abuse became a reality, he thought things would change.
He thought the NSW government agreeing to increase the maximum jail term from two to five years in November 2018 would mean more people who covered up child abuse in church hierarchies would be sent to prison.
But more than two years later, there’s little to show for it.
Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research data shows that since the sentencing reform was introduced, there have been six charges for concealing child abuse in NSW, three of which resulted in guilty verdicts.
None of the convictions resulted in prison terms.
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