Tim Carmody.
Queensland Crime Commissioner.
Paper presented at the Children and Crime: Victims and Offenders Conference convened by the Australian Institute of Criminology
Brisbane, 17-18 June 1999 2
Introduction
The Queensland Crime Commission (QCC) was established in 1997. It's core function is to investigate major and organised criminal activity referred to it by its nine member Management Committee, but it also has an auxiliary jurisdiction to investigate criminal paedophilia; that is, offences of a sexual nature committed in relation to children, eg child prostitution, child sex tourism, and child pornography.
The statutory definition gives the term criminal paedophilia a much wider ranging meaning than its traditional medico-legal usage. No distinction, for instance, is drawn by the QCC legislation between a paedophile in the strict sense (that is, an adult sexually fixated on pre teenage children of either sex) and what are referred to as "situational offenders" (adults who engage in sex with children, no so much because they have a true sexual preference for them, but usually because they represent an available sexual substitute).
Thus, for Crime Commission purposes, a paedophile and a child sex offender are treated as being one and the same. The intrafamilial offender is simply a paedophile who abuses his own children or young relatives. A Queensland resident child sex tourist is merely a paedophile who offends against children overseas, either as well as, or instead of, at home.
Both are subject to QCC's investigative jurisdiction to the same extent as any other paedophile.
The vast majority of abusers are relatives (including fathers and stepfathers) and other significant males figures, acquaintances or trusted family friends but the only generalisation that can safely be made about paedophiles is that most of them start young, ie by their late teens, are mainly male and unless they are successfully treated or prevented, tend to offend on a lifelong basis.
Estimates suggest that each year in this country, more than 40,000 children - most often before the age of 12 and usually by 10 - fall victim to some type of sexual violation, ranging from non contact forms of indecency to full sexual penetration.
In a study of a representative community sample of Australian women in 1997, Fleming found that around 20% had experienced unwanted genital contact with an adult and earlier research conducted by Goldman and Goldman (1988), concluded that around 28% of young women and 9% of young men surveyed had been sexually abused as a child. These results are consistent with Finkelhor's (1979) findings in his national study of the prevalence of child sexual abuse in the United States context.
Child sex offending imposes heavy financial and social costs on the community. Included in the direct costs are the funds needed for the State agencies responsible for criminal justice, education and protection of children and for public health and welfare services as well as offender treatment and victim counselling programmes. Less tangible social costs stem from the short term effects such as low self esteem, guilt, shame, anger, sleeplessness and eating disorders and the longer lasting psychological and emotional consequences, like higher rates of adult depression and youth suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, post traumatic stress disorders and, in some cases, inappropriate sexual behaviour (Tong and Oates, 1990, p344; Briere and Runtz, 1998; Winfield et al, 1990; Bushnell et al, 1992; Mullins and Fleming, 1998, pp6-7).
Paedophilia also contributes substantially to family disintegration, the marginalisation of victims and wider social deterioration as the public loses confidence in the ability of the State to preserve the social order and adequately protect children against sexual harm.
Thus, whether or not he (or she) is a fixated paedophile in the clinical sense, or offends on an individual or organised basis, either within or outside the family, the child sex offender represents a serious threat to the physical and emotional wellbeing and psychological development of children everywhere and clearly warrants the close attention of specialist law enforcement and child protection agencies.
As a New South Wales Health Department expert on child sexual assault recently pointed out, "... if influenza affected 8-10% of young males and 20-25% of young females, it would be considered an epidemic" (Tolliday as cited in Horin, 1998, p4).
Project Axis
QCC (in partnership with Queensland Police Service (QPS)), launched Project Axis in August last year.
Axis' dominant purpose is to study the nature and extent of paedophile activity (particularly the potential for repeat and multiple offending) within the State, assess its past, present and likely future social impact and develop better and more effective ways of dealing with it.
An important subsidiary purpose of the project is to increase the level of community awareness about who paedophiles are, and how they target, seduce and abuse children, so that more people can recognise the risks more readily and respond to them more appropriately.
While the project has a distinctly law enforcement orientation, it has a much wider social significance, and represents merely the first step in a more holistic long term, proactive, research based and intelligence driven approach to counteracting the paedophilia phenomenon without needlessly duplicating limited resources or confusing roles.
Thus, the project team sought the assistance of a number of government and non-government agencies and individuals to undertake relevant work, collect and, analyse empirical or statistical data and draft sections of the paper. Significant contributions have now been received from: the Children's Commission, the Criminal Justice Commission, the Government Statistician's Office, Queensland Health, Department of Families, Youth and Community Care, Queensland Corrections, Education Queensland, the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, Stephen Smallbone of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Griffith University), Simon Petrie of the School of Justice Studies (QUT) and Chris Goddard and Bernadette Saunders of the Child Abuse and Family Violence Research Unit at Monash University. The success of the Project relies heavily on the commitment of those who have given generously of their time and devoted significant resources to assisting the Crime Commission and QPS in this endeavour.
Submissions and Questionnaires
Because of the sensitive nature of some of the non-law enforcement related aspects of child sex offending the project has sought contributions from as wide a range of individuals and community groups as possible. The project began in the customary way by inviting interested organisations, agencies, associations and individuals, including affected children, their families, support groups and local community representatives, to provide written submissions on relevant matters.
It was made clear that submissions could, if required, be made confidentially and that every assistance would be provided to those who preferred to make statements directly to the Commission rather than putting their views in writing.
However, despite our best efforts to encourage them to do so many people with relevant knowledge, views, experience or expertise were not prepared to come forward voluntarily.
Other organisations and individuals who wanted to give information were constrained from doing so due to lack of resources.
These were helped with making written submissions or recording oral submissions.
It was very important that various groups and individuals in this category knew exactly what information Axis was after and questions were precisely formulated in standard form so that information distortion and inconsistency was minimised.
Research
Because gathering information and opinion through submissions and informal discussions alone did not ensure an adequate coverage of the literature or establish a sufficiently complete body of information to properly address major policy questions, an extensive research program was seen as integral to the work of the project. Research in this context has included both detailed reviews of literature on important sociological, criminological and legal topics and original work involving the collection of data not previously available in Queensland.
Unfortunately, there is no comprehensive State crime statistics and research system for recording court statistics in criminal prosecutions. Consequently, the only satisfactory method of obtaining reliable statistics on child sex offending in Queensland is to undertake the tedious and time consuming task of searching all relevant official records and sources.
Similarly, relatively little systematic research has been conducted in Queensland to assess trends in the nature and extent of child sex offending. Previous surveys and reports vary in quality and scope and the results seldom correspond with one another because of different survey designs. Thus, despite the ready availability of estimates from a range of variable sources, important measurements such as the prevalence of child sex offending are not available.
Other Methods and Sources
In addition to conventional information gathering procedures, QCC has access to a number of specially enhanced statutory information collection powers to assist it in discharging its statutory responsibilities.
These include the power to - ??require specified information from units of public administration; ??to compel other entities or persons to provide designated documents or things; ??conduct private hearings for investigative purposes.
Hearings Commission hearings are not conducted to prove anything or punish anybody but merely to act in aid of the search for truth. The power gives QCC nothing more than the capability of obtaining information from unwilling sources in cases where obtaining the information is so important that compulsion is justified by the balance of public interest considerations.
Importantly, compelled answers are not admissible in legal proceedings (and therefore answers cannot be compelled unless there is no alternative).
Because of its research and intelligence driven character, Project Axis is a more consultative and less coercive inquiry than other types of criminal investigations.
Thus, resort to the hearings power was sparingly and reserved for those cases where less intrusive or coercive means either had not been or were unlikely to be fully effective.
Nonetheless, effective use of the hearings power is often the most efficient and in some cases the only effective way of obtaining trustworthy information.
For instance, investigative hearings were conducted to - ??identify structural defects or systemic deficiencies; ??assess existing institutional policies and procedures for responding to cases of alleged or suspected child sex offending against members (eg the state or private school system); The Crime Commission privately questioned a number of convicted members of the clergy to gain a better insight into those who offend within the church. Areas covered included recruitment and training, methods of identifying and gaining access to vulnerable children, attitude to victims, the reaction of the church to allegations of abuse, the significance of vows and relevance, if any, that the compulsory celibacy rule has to child sex offending, the pastoral role, how new candidates for the priesthood or other religious life could be more effectively screened, methods of concealment, commonly used rationalisations to minimise guilt or shame, the availability of treatment programmes, future prospects, etc.
The hearings power also provides a convenient forum for testing the validity, accuracy, or completeness of "volunteered" information and clarifying or supplementing submissions from groups or individuals.
No public "hearings" were held for the purposes of the project.
Public Information and Discussion Paper
Axis is set to release a public information and discussion paper towards the end of July.
This is seen as the best way of focusing stakeholders attention on the relevant issues allowing more members of the public to participate in the debate. While current community attitudes, stances and responses have been identified as being a significant part of the problem, the community at large also has an integral part to play in addressing it.
When released (hopefully on schedule), the paper will represent an all-of-government review of our current state of knowledge concerning child sexual abuse, and will seek to explain what is known about the problem, how big a problem it is, identify who offends and who is at risk, and takes a look at how we as a society and law enforcement agencies are currently dealing with the problem.
It will contain submissions by and contributions from key stakeholders, policy makers, competent government agencies and community groups, offenders and victims, which, hopefully will encourage broader discussion and open debate of relevant issues in this area of misinformation, distorted perceptions, prejudice, misunderstandings and confused emotions.
Releasing a public discussion paper is expected to provide a clearer, more relevant and accurate picture of the criminal paedophilia environment in the State context and a more reliable reference point for identifying and prioritising areas of risk so that future allocations of law enforcement and other government resources are both adequate and properly directed.
Insofar as the nature of criminal paedophilia is concerned, the Axis paper will take a close look at and try to answer important questions such as - ??How many child sex abusers in Queensland are in fact "paedophiles"? ??What characterises and distinguishes a situational child sex offender from the offender who has a fixated sexual preference for children? ??Are the majority of abusers related or known to their victims? ??What proportion of offending occurs inside the family compared with extrafamilial abuse? ??Are the majority of child sexual abuse victims male or female? ??Can early intervention prevent a lifetime of offending? ??What connection, if any, does child pornography have with the sexual abuse of children? ??Do paedophiles use computers to communicate with each other for the purposes of swapping victims and/or transferring or creating child pornography? ??How do child sex offenders do what they do? ??Are there organised criminal paedophilia groups or networks operating in Queensland? If so, what are their size, aims, structure and membership? ??Are there any environmental or contextual factors including structural defects or systemic deficiencies which tend to facilitate instead of inhibit the activities of child sex offenders? 7 The extent aspect of the study focuses on the rates of reported incidence of child sex offending. In other words, it seeks to measure the size of the problem by offence category or offender type. It compares and contrasts the current rate with the past and likely future rates to see whether the reported incidence is increasing or decreasing.
The incidence of child sex offending in Queensland can never be precisely measured. The reported incidence rate gives some (probably "tip" rather than "iceberg") indication of the actual incidence. But the findings of strictly controlled research based studies previously conducted by universities and other bodies using target groups via questionnaires in an effort to find out the true level (ie, reported plus unreported) of offending, added to the official figures from non law enforcement or court records plus data from hospitals, youth and victim support groups, crisis centres, government departments and child protection agencies etc, will give the best available overall estimate of the true offending rate in the State.
The discussion paper is intended to use those figures as a platform for secondary and tertiary assessment where the following questions are asked (and hopefully answered)- ??Has the changing role of family and women in society contributed to any discernible increase in child sex offending? ??Who represents the greatest threat to our children? ??Is the home the most dangerous place for children in the context of child sex offending? Or are the youngest children at greatest risk at kindergarten, school or in the playground? ??Is it possible to identify or predict how offenders target, recruit and seduce child victims? ??Do the analysed figures confirm beliefs or dispel myths abounding about stereotypical paedophile identities and activities? ??Do certain types of child sex offenders exhibit particular patterns of behaviour or habits which characterise and distinguish them from other criminals and/or law-abiding members of the community? ??What future role should the Crime Commission play in the law enforcement response to this form of criminality? That is, in what circumstances should its coercive powers be used? The issues I've mentioned above are of course not intended to be exhaustive but merely illustrate the types of questions that Axis will be able to answer from the information it obtains.
Naturally, particular forms of criminal paedophilia, eg. child pornography, child prostitution, child sex tourism will be dealt with separately and in specific detail.
The Final Report
A Final Report (to be published early in the year 2000) will discuss the adequacy of current responses to child sex offending in an effort to identify and address or remedy structural defects or systemic deficiencies in law enforcement, criminal justice, the family, the education system, child protection agencies, the churches, the courts, other organisations, corrective services, and the community generally.
This will include dismantling and closely examining the policies, procedures, practices and protocols adopted by various institutions to see whether they are adequate or effective in responding to the needs of victims and the public's expectation of dealing appropriately and effectively with offenders. It will consider the "pros" and "cons" of such issues as screening proceedings, mandatory reporting requirements, evidentiary and procedural issues, law enforcement structures and resource needs, treatment programs, preventative strategies, post release monitoring and supervision issues etc.
Other questions likely to be covered are - ??What policies do schools, and church organisations presently have in place for encouraging reporting and dealing with reported cases of child sexual abuse? ??What oversight and accountability mechanisms are there in place to ensure that schools, churches, community based organisations, protect children against or at least deal appropriately with instances of abuse? ??What effect does paedophilia have on victims and their families? ??Why is it that sex offenders tend to form the oldest group in prison populations, both in Australia and overseas? ??How can the risk of future offending by a convicted paedophile be guarded against? Would extended parole periods help? ??Why is it that victims are unable to explain why they repeatedly returned to an offender's house? Why they remained silent for so long, and why they continued the sexual activity despite their disgust, shame and humiliation? ??Why do some paedophiles tend to prefer suicide to public exposure or prosecution? ??Is there scope for some sort of diversionary scheme in appropriate cases? ??Are existing policies and practices of State run institutions and church organisations adequate and effective? ??Are the screening practices of non government agencies who deal on a regular basis with children, such as youth groups, sporting groups and child care centres well designed and enforced? ??What is the proper role of the media in this area? ??Are some family lifestyles, structures or memberships over represented in the child sex offending figures? ??Are there any reliable predictors of child sex offending? ??Should offenders be forced to report their whereabouts and movements to authorities for a period of time after their release from jail? 9 It will combine the outcome of the statistical and secondary analysis contained in the discussion paper with any submissions or comments received back from the public and professional, community based victim support or other interested stakeholder groups into recommendations for improving the infrastructure to minimise the rate and impact of child sex offending in Queensland.
Proposed Future Reports
It is anticipated that other reports will follow at regular intervals dealing with more specific criminal paedophilia related issues eg, offender methodologies, child sex offending in Aboriginal communities, the short and longer term effects and consequences of offending on child victims etc.
I would now like to deal briefly with the results of surveys of survivors of child sexual abuse, youth, child-minding and sporting organisations, the survey of non-government and government schools.
The Survivors Survey In January 1999, Project Axis conducted a survey of adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Queensland. The purpose of this survey was to ensure that victims of abuse had the opportunity to contribute to the information and discussion paper in a meaningful way. Far too often, papers of this sort are produced without sufficient consultation with those who it is hoped it will ultimately benefit.
The survey consisted of 48 questions that were divided into five sections and canvassed a number of specific issues, including: ??the relationship between victims and offenders; ??the nature of the sexual abuse; ??where the abuse occurred and how; ??characteristics of the offenders, such as age, sex, occupation, and marital status; ??characteristics of the victims; ??disclosure of the abuse and reasons for reporting or not reporting it; ??who the abuse was reported to; ??the period of time between the abusive episode and first disclosure; and ??their experiences with the criminal justice system.
A purposive sampling methodology was adopted with approximately 20 sexual assault support services and victims advocacy groups distributing and/or administering the survey on behalf of the Project. Given time restrictions and the need to ensure that all participants were actually victims in the relevant sense this approach was considered the most practical. 129 survivors returned surveys including 45 surveys completed at a workshop for survivors held on 31 January 1999. An additional 25 surveys related to abuse that had taken place outside the State and were excluded from the analysis on this basis. Eighteen (17.3%) of the participants were male and 86 (82.7%) female. The age range of participants was 18-59 years.
The sample was too small and unrepresentative for the findings to be generalised to the total population of child sex abuse survivors. But many of the survey findings were consistent with previous research studies that have surveyed a more representative sample, eg - ??104 victims reported a total of 212 offenders as many victims were victimised by multiple offenders; ??88% of offenders were male and 12% were female; ??22 per cent of males and 27 per cent of females had been offended against by a female ; ??78 per cent of males and 73 per cent females were offended against by a male; ??a male family friend was the most common perpetrator of abuse followed by 'other', 'brother' (including half brother) and biological father; ??male clergy were the most common perpetrators of offences against males; ??almost half of the female participants had known the offender for longer than five years when the first offence occurred; ??22% of male participants had known the offender for 1 -3 years and 19% for at least five years when the offences occurred; ??Only 10% of females and 9% of males had been sexually abused by a stranger with 90% of females and 91% of males having been abused by a family member or someone known to them.
Given the future impact of victimisation on children, one of the most serious concerns arising from the survey results is the low rate of disclosure of these offences. Official complaints had been made in relation to only 17 per cent of cases. A recent Australian study with a more representative sample found that while 52 per cent had disclosed the abuse to someone, fewer than 10 per cent of those who had disclosed reported, or had the abuse reported, to either the police, a doctor or a helping agency (Fleming, 1997). A New Zealand study reported similar rates of disclosure to an official agency with only 7 and a half per cent of abused women reporting or having the abuse reported to police or to a helping agency (Anderson et al. 1993).
There has been some suggestion that boys and men are even less likely than women to report abuse perpetrated against them as a child with only one out of 200 abused males in one Australian study [of incarcerated offenders] having ever reported the abuse (Submission of Freda Briggs to Project Axis 1998, p.2).
Interestingly, in the Australian study women who were younger at the time of the survey were significantly more likely to have disclosed the abuse than their older counterparts. For example 83% of those in the 17-24 age group had disclosed while only 38% of women in the 45 and over age group had disclosed.
It is hoped that one of the outcomes of the Project will be to improve current rates of disclosure. This will allow children who have been victimised to access support and counselling services to minimise the effects of the abuse on their future physical and mental health and wellbeing. Similarly, improved rates of disclosure will result in the identification of more offenders who can be prosecuted, receive treatment and/or support or, if required, be removed from the community to ensure that they do not re-offend. Services such as Kids Help Line are valuable contact points for children who otherwise might not disclose the abuse, particularly in cases where the abuse is occurring within the family. However, as most active disclosures by children are made to their mothers (Fleming 1997; Monck and New 1996), 11 there is no better substitute for the fostering of open and positive relationships between parents and their children and the encouragement of parents to report the abuse to the authorities. Improved rates of disclosure might well occur if parents and others in the community understand the advantages of reporting the abuse and the action that will be taken following a complaint being made. Also if parents and victims feel that they will retain control during the course of the process and be supported throughout the process. Increasing confidence in the ability of existing institutions, such as the courts, to deal sensitively with complainants may also contribute to better rates of reporting.
It should be acknowledged, however, that disclosure by children or adolescents is rarely deliberate or purposeful. Sorenson and Snow (1991) in an analysis of 116 confirmed cases of child sexual abuse found that in around 3 out of 4 cases the disclosure was accidental rather than intended. Disclosures in this category may result from a child's known exposure to an alleged or convicted child sex offender , the exhibiting by a child of age-inappropriate and/or excessive sexualized behaviour , inappropriate sexual statements made by the a child or from a child telling a friend about the abuse who does not keep the confidence. The findings of the study indicated that pre-school children were more likely to disclose accidentally while adolescents were more likely to disclose purposively.
Sexualized behaviour and inappropriate statements in the Sorenson and Snow (1991) study accounted for a third of all accidental disclosures and were observed only in preschool and young school-age children. This suggests that younger children will be more likely to disclose abuse in an unplanned overt manner and heightens the need for increased awareness by adults of the behaviours exhibited by younger children. Any prevention program should therefore be directed not only towards children and adolescents, but towards parents and others in the broader community as well.
Support and counselling services for child victims in Queensland are limited to services such as the Sexual Abuse Counselling Service (SACS) run by the Department of Families, Youth and Community Care and private counselling practices. The SACS service caters for victims of intrafamilial abuse, primarily where the abuser is a father or step-fathers. It is interesting to note that the majority of sexual assault counselling services cater for adult women yet a substantial percentage of their clients have come to them as a result not of recent sexual assaults, but rather as a result of sexual abuse in their childhood. For instance, figures received from one sexual assault service (the Logan Sexual Assault Service) indicate that 90% of their caseload refers to sexual abuse that has occurred 15-20 years ago. There is clearly an urgent need for more child-focused services to be made available to victims of abuse.
I'll move on now to discuss some of the research conducted by the Project team focusing on groups and agencies who are entrusted with the care of children.
Schools, churches, sporting groups, child minding services and other youth-oriented groups Paedophiles who offend outside the family are likely to be attracted to professions and volunteer work that brings them into regular contact with children. Thus, screening those who are trusted to care for children is a critical first step in the detection of child sex offenders before they have the opportunity to inflict harm on their victims. Project Axis surveyed a number of organisations responsible for the care of children including schools, churches, sporting groups, child minding services and other youth oriented groups.
Firstly, the survey of scouting groups, sporting groups and youth-oriented organisations.
There were around 870 000 children aged under 18 years of age counted in Queensland in the 1996 Census. The figures received by Project Axis from the sporting, scouts and youth group organisations indicate that there are approximately 270 000 children in Queensland currently registered with them. The majority of these groups rely on volunteers to organise activities with the scouting and youth-oriented organisations having over 6 000 volunteers working for them and around 1 100 permanent and casual employees.
Of the 49 organisations surveyed, 21 did not have any screening procedures in place.
Seventeen indicated that they screened employees or volunteers once only, usually at the commencement of their employment. Only two sporting, scouting and youth organisations conducted regular checks of their employees.
Thirty-one of the 49 organisations did not screen volunteers and employees for child sex offence convictions. The most common reason given for their failure to screen staff was that they did not know how, with over half the organisations responding in this way. One third of respondents indicated that they did not screen simply because there was no mandatory requirement to do so.
While many organisations said that they would not employ a known or suspected child sex offender, they did not have any effective screening processes in place to help them identify offenders. One body indicated that it did not know that an applicant could be requested to undergo a criminal history check as a condition of employment while others were uncertain what questions they were permitted to ask applicants fearing they may be in breach of antidiscrimination legislation.
In recent years, a number of jurisdictions, including the U.S., the U.K. and Canada have sought to mandate or encourage organisations to adopt procedures to protect vulnerable groups, such as children and the elderly, from abuse by those who work with them.1 The Canadian model is a good one and warrants further attention. In 1994 the Canadian government announced that a National Screening System for volunteers and employees in positions of trust with children and other vulnerable groups would be introduced. It was agreed that criminal history information would be made available through local police agencies to child assisting organisations for screening purposes and a partnership was established with Volunteer Canada to develop a training program for the screening of employees and volunteers in positions of trust (The F/B/T Working Group on High Risk Offenders, 1998, p.5).
Volunteer Canada developed training materials and held 'train-the-trainers' workshops in over 200 locations across the country. This training program, it has been reported, continues to grow as more organisations recognise the need to screen volunteers and employees. A further 1 See Home Office. Interdepartmental Working Group on Preventing Unsuitable People from Working with Children and Abuse of Trust (1999) (U.K.), Report of the Interdepartmental Working Group on Preventing Unsuitable People from Working with Children and Abuse of Trust, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (U.S.) (1998), Guidelines for the Screening of Persons Working with Children, the Elderly, and Individuals with Disabilities in Need of Support, Washington DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and Solicitor-General of Canada. The F/P/T Working Group on High Risk Offenders (1998), Report to Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers on Information Systems on Sex Offenders Against Children and Other Vulnerable Groups http://www.sgc.gc.ca/home/epub/corr/e199810d/e199810dhtm.
phase of the program was announced in June 1997 which has as its focus the development of a specialised training program on screening for the sport, recreation, education and faith communities and will include a national public education campaign to raise awareness about the importance of screening (F/B/T Working Group on High Risk Offenders, 1998).
In 1998 the Australian branch of the End Child Pornography, Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) organisation launched a national criminal history screening campaign calling on all Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments to coordinate and develop a national criminal history screening system. It is hoped the proposed National Integrity and Targeted Enforcement System, for which the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence (ABCI) is currently conducting a feasibility study, will go some way towards ensuring that criminal history screening checks are more thorough and comprehensive than previously might have been the case. However unless organisations who employ persons who regularly come into contact with children are encouraged to request these checks of all potential employees and volunteers, we can expect more suspected and convicted child sex offenders to successfully infiltrate these organisations to gain access to children. Although criminal history checks are only one part of a comprehensive screening process, it is considered that they are an important one.
The Axis discussion paper will be identifying particular issues designed to improve the current situation in relation to the screening of applicants for volunteer and paid employees in these organisations with a view to recommendations being made in the final report.
Finally, I'd like to deal briefly with the approach of the project to educational institutions.
A number of methods were used to gather information on complaint handling policies and procedures and prevention strategies employed by schools in Queensland to deal with the issue of child sexual abuse. First, an approach was made to Education Queensland to provide a submission to the project. Then, a questionnaire was sent to the Department seeking specific information and figures on complaints made. After that, a sample of 100 non-government schools out of a total of 429 were sent surveys. And finally, eight schools were selected to be interviewed in Brisbane in order to allow them to elaborate on particular issues where necessary. A questionnaire was also sent to the Board of Teacher Registration.
The public schools, under the guidance of Education Queensland, have recently implemented a range of initiatives designed to improve current arrangements In March 1997, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs endorsed the recommendations of the National Strategy in Schooling to Prevent Paedophilia and Other Forms of Child Abuse. Since then, Education Queensland has consistently worked toward implementing the national strategy in Queensland.
This policy which came into effect on 20 April 1998 compels the reporting of cases of suspected abuse or harm and prohibits employees from engaging in sexual conduct of any kind with students. The term "employees" is defined as all school based staff, including principals, teachers, office staff, groundsmen and cleaners, as well as part-time staff and visitors.
Amendments to the Education (Teacher Registration) Act 1988 to extend the powers and information available to the Board of Teacher Registration and increase staff professional development. Under these amendments, teachers desiring registration in Queensland must 14 first obtain and pay for a criminal history check through QPS. The police clearance is then presented to the Board of Teacher Registration together with their application for registration.
The Catholic and Independent school systems also subscribe to the enhanced teacher registration system.
The survey of non-government schools was sent out to a randomly selected sample of 100 schools with 55 schools returning a completed survey. Many of the schools surveyed indicated that although they did not currently have policies and procedures in place for the reporting of abuse by staff members, the survey had prompted them into giving considered thought to the issue. Several of those who did have policies in place commented that they were going to re-examine their current policies and procedures with a view to addressing any weaknesses in them. The survey was intended not to single out particular schools but rather to gain an overall impression of whether, and in what way, independent schools were responding to the issue. Only six schools stated that in the past they have had allegations and/or incidences of child sexual abuse involving staff and students.
It was found that the majority of schools surveyed relied on the Board of Teacher Registration to perform the necessary checks on employees and therefore a questionnaire was also forwarded to the Board. It was noted that although the Board's powers have increased in recent years, it is still very difficult for the Board to meet the necessary criteria for a teacher's name to removed from the register. This suggests that in many instances the confidence placed by schools on checks performed by the Board may well be misplaced.
Where to from here?
Project Axis is an important and indispensable step towards improving current responses to the problem of child sexual abuse. All agencies concerned in contributing to the Project have been hopeful that a consensus can be reached on policy issues and that tangible outcomes may be achieved.
The impressions of those who have worked on the Project (after their discussion with victims and professionals who work in the area of child protection and child sexual abuse) is that frustration is often felt as a result of the lack of public attention focussed on this issue. Lack of appropriate services and adequate funding for those services that are operating, and the seeking of simplistic solutions to what is an extremely complex problem were other issues identified. The Project recognises that there is no simple or single solution but given the significant numbers of victims in the community, every effort must be made to achieve the best possible outcomes for victims including where possible the effective treatment of offenders.
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