Why would anyone bother to report child sexual abuse to Police when the international evidence shows that very few result in prosecutions?

The nature of the crime is that it happens behind closed doors and the child victims are unlikely to be believed. The account of a child is only too likely to be discounted when compared to that of an adult. Child sex offenders rely on this!

Still, my experience suggests that the reporting of child sexual abuse serves to disrupt the activities of offenders and suppresses their abuse of victims.  As such, notwithstanding the barriers that serve to reduce the chances of prosecution, reporting does have a protective impact, especially when it comes to new victims.

Curiously, Tasmanian law enforcement applies a different standard of proof as compared with other regulatory entities.  Characteristically Police apply the prosecutorial standard of “beyond reasonable doubt” as compared with the Working with Vulnerable Legislation which works on the “balance of probabilities”.

‘Beyond reasonable doubt” is the highest standard of legal proof that might satisfy a jury to convict an alleged abuser as to a specific allegation, while the ‘balance of probabilities’ includes other factors such as the number of allegations, and the consistency in the accounts of things like grooming behaviours.

This creates a tension that might for example see an allegation discounted as ‘unactionable’ by Police but serving to see an individual legally precluded from participating in a “regulated activity” involving children or other vulnerable persons.

Allegations of child sexual abuse against serving Police Officers is particularly problematic. CSA routinely involves violence against children and the intimidation of witnesses. Paedophiles in Tasmania Police, such as those revealed in recent years, were well positioned to threaten those seeking justice for victims, and only too often those disclosing abuse report their fears of retaliation by Police offenders and their sympathisers. This has a chilling effect on disclosures that only Police leadership and the Government can lift.

With a statistical incidence of between one and four percent of men seeking sexual gratification with children Tasmania Police like all occupations and walks of life will have paedophiles in their ranks.  While less so, it seems that some women have these same proclivities.

 Conversation starters?

1. Should there be different standards of proof across the various legislation?
2. How consistently are legislative provisions enforced?