South Australian child sex offenders logged on The Advertiser’s new register

As debate rages over the merits of a publicly accessible child sex offender register, The Advertiser has launched a database of pedophiles sentenced by our courts.

The Advertiser has launched a child sex offender register.

Few aspects of our society are as divisive as criminal law, and little within that sphere is as polarising as the idea of a publicly accessible register of convicted child sex offenders.

It is an idea that, once mentioned, immediately draws battle lines between politicians, law enforcement, civil libertarians, lawyers, the media and the general public.

South Australia does not have such a register, and nor does a national version exist, while WA makes publicly available the identities of those considered “high-risk offenders”.

Supporters of a public register are passionate in their belief that justice must be seen to be done, and children are best protected when criminals have been named and shamed.

They argue children are society’s most vulnerable members, and to not take every possible step to ensure their safety is to be irresponsible.

Opponents of a register say it would expose defendants to vigilante action, risk identifying victims and survivors of abuse, and does nothing to deter other pedophiles.

ARCHIVE: All the child sex offender cases we’ve covered in 2023

Andrew Buitenhuis was jailed for a decade this year for crimes committed while volunteering as a youth worker.

Malcolm Wardle is on the register after he was sentenced this year for child sex offending.

They point to statistics from the US where public registers have failed to impact upon reoffending and led to properties in some neighbourhoods dropping in value.

With the state government yet to act on its pre-election pledge of a public child sex offender register, The Advertiser has launched its own database of offenders.

Bradley Tye Long will spend at least two years behind bars for sexually abusing two children.

Terry William Rincon was jailed for possessing child exploitation material. Picture: Ben Cameron

Through both a dedicated topic page, which subscribers can follow, and a regularly updated chart, readers will be able to keep track of cases covered by our court reporting team.

The list will include the names, ages, suburbs, offences and sentences of convicted offenders, provided all of that information is in the public arena and not suppressed.

The list will not include any information that would tend to identify the victim or survivor of an offence, as their privacy is guaranteed under state law.

Offenders will be added to the topic page only once they have either pleaded or been found guilty by the state’s Supreme, District and Magistrates courts, and to the list once they have been sentenced.