Grace Tame Foundation calls for ban on ‘good character’ references for pedophiles, but NSW ODPP disagrees

A push to stop pedophiles using “good character” references in courts has sparked opposition from the state’s top prosecutors, but victim advocates say the practice is “insulting” and “retraumatising”.

The state’s top prosecutor has opposed a push to ban pedophiles from using “good character” references to help convince judges to give them a lower sentence, despite victim advocacy groups like the Grace Tame Foundation describing the practice as “insulting”.

Child sex offenders in NSW would no longer be able to rely on good character references during sentencing proceedings as part of changes to the legal process being considered by the NSW Sentencing Council.

The Grace Tame Foundation is among groups pushing for the change, arguing allowing good character references is “plainly insulting and retraumatising for victim survivors”.

But peak legal bodies including NSW Office of The Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), which prosecutes child sexual assault offences in NSW, claims prohibiting the use of character references “could impede the sentencing court’s role in providing individualised justice”.

“The ODPP acknowledges that some victim-survivors in matters involving sexual offending may be distressed by the appearance of a sentencing court taking good character into account in favour of an offender,” ODPP acting director Frank Veltro SC said in a submission on the proposed changes.

The Grace Tame Foundation has called for changes to the court process.

“The ODPP also acknowledges the right of an offender to a fair sentencing process and it is important that good character or a lack of previous convictions are able to be taken into account.”

More than 4000 people have signed a petition to NSW Parliament calling for good character references to be scrapped, arguing a perpetrators’ “good” character “cannot be separated from the evil they commit”.

NSW ODPP acting director Frank Veltro SC.

Victim-survivors say the distress of the legal system can be compounded when their evidence can appear to receive the same weight as good character references provided for offenders in court.

The Grace Tame Foundation argues whether a perpetrator has been an “otherwise law-abiding and family-minded community member makes no difference to the survivor’s experience of the assault and their resultant lifelong suffering”.

Foundation board member and lawyer Michael Bradley said good character evidence had been applied in cases where offenders “expressed no remorse” or failed to take responsibility for their conduct.

“It is plainly insulting and retraumatising for courts to offer a more lenient sentence for a sexual offence conviction because of who the offender is,” he said in a submission.

Lawyer Michael Bradley pictured with Grace Tame.

“Applying evidence of good character or a lack of prior convictions as a mitigating factor ignores the fact that child sexual abuse offenders will usually lack prior convictions and are often rehearsed at grooming audiences to maintain a positive public facade.”

NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley, who requested a review of the legislation, recognised it was “vitally important that the criminal justice system provide an adequate response to these offences”.

Sydney social worker and counsellor Michelle Lin said good character references should not be a mitigating factor in sentencing.

NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley.

“So called ‘good character’ is a feature of predators who groom the public and those close to the victim-survivor to continue to weaponise their ‘good character’ to access and abuse victim groups such as children, faith congregations, employees and students,” she said.

“This ‘good character’ is intentionally constructed and portrayed to give them the benefit of the doubt or to put them in positions of trust.”

Other legal bodies, including the NSW Aboriginal Legal Service, have also expressed opposition to removing good character references.

Legal Aid argued it “does not consider that (character references) should be altogether removed” as child sexual offending can extend to “less serious offences including young persons sharing photos of themselves in a state of undress”.

The ODPP said it would support other measures to improve the legal outcome for victim-survivors, including properly funded court precincts, particularly in regional areas, to accommodate requests from victim-survivors to deliver victim impact statements and observe sentence proceedings remotely.