Editorial: Put politics aside to end ‘good character’ rape sentencing farce

We hope both sides of politics can put aside egos and work together to ensure sensible changes, writes the editor.

Both sides of politics must join in ending good character defences.

Imagine being a victim of sexual assault.

Imagine finding the strength to go to the police and make a complaint, and then going through the ordeal of giving evidence in court.

Now imagine having gotten a guilty verdict, and then being forced to listen to what a great bloke the offender is, as friends give character references in statements that will then be submitted by a judge for consideration in sentencing.

It’s an appalling scenario, but one that occurs in more than 90 per cent of rape cases.

In more than a quarter of cases, “good character” is given weight in sentencing – meaning it helps rapists get a reduced sentence.

As was reported in The Sunday Mail yesterday, Labor will move to limit the court’s ability to consider good character references as well as standing and contribution to the community by introducing amendments during debate into the latest tranche of the government’s “adult crime, adult time” laws.

It is a move we hope the government will support, and it indeed sounded promising yesterday when Attorney-General Deb Frecklington was asked about the issue by The Courier-Mail.

“I would like to acknowledge the work undertaken by the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council looking at the sentencing of sexual violence, including good character evidence,” she said.

“This is an important issue and I have already met with the chair of the council and instructed the Department of Justice to commence work in this space.”

There is already a provision that prevents the use of good character evidence for sexual offences committed against a child. But that only applies if that character was of assistance to them in committing the crime (for example, a sport coach who offends against a child in their care).

Gold Coast Centre Against Sexual Violence director Di Macleod said a good character reference had a traumatic effect on the victim at sentencing.

“A positive image carefully cultivated in the community by a sexual offender may actually assist them to win the trust of the victim and commit the offence,” she said.

“A good character reference for an offender being sentenced for a sexual offence is redundant and should not be taken into account.”

She makes an important point, for while it is undoubtedly damaging for victims to sit quietly while they hear these character references, the fact that they are allowed – in the sentencing stage – ignores a key truth.

And that is that good blokes do not rape women. If they are found guilty, they are no longer of good character, and they never were.

While court proceedings are governed by legislation, tradition and precedent, we should not forget that they are meant to serve the people. When they become so far out of whack with community expectations, changes need to be made.

We hope that when these amendments are debated in parliament, both sides of politics can put aside egos and work together to ensure sensible changes are adopted quickly, to ensure victims are not further traumatised in court, and to ensure rapists are not given any sort of concession for their supposed “good character”.

PREMIER MICRO-MANAGING

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli’s work ethic is legendary.

Up at 4am every morning to exercise before throwing himself into the challenges of the day, he credits his migrant grandfather, a cane farmer, for his drive.

And he has hit the ground running since his election win last October, relishing the challenges of government, including some unexpected hand-grenades left by the previous administration.

But it is possible to take on too much, as appears could be the case in asking each government department and agency to vet every media inquiry they receive with the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

The new protocol, as reported today by The Courier-Mail’s state political editor Hayden Johnson, is designed to help to deliver a “consistent message” across government, whatever that means.

Journalists, when they ask questions of government departments, invariably just want answers on behalf of our audience, rather than a “consistent message”.

Our fear is that in trying to control the narrative, the Premier’s new process will only slow down the Q and A process, which can already be tortuous at times.

It is also an indication that the Premier might not completely trust the processes in place within each department that deal with day-to-day media inquiries.

If so, that’s a shame, as part of leadership is trusting others to do their jobs.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Chris Jones, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details here

Originally published as Editorial: Put politics aside to end ‘good character’ rape sentencing farce