Reforming Australian Criminal Laws against Persistent Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract

Criminal offences enabling prosecution of repeated instances of child sexual abuse exist in all Australian states and territories. These laws were developed to overcome the inherent difficulties presented by the requirement for particulars of individual crimes when prosecuting repeated or persistent sexual offending against children. In 2017, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse reviewed these provisions, resulting in a series of recommendations for criminal law reform and a model law that defined the offence as maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child. This article critically analyses the implementation of reforms across Australian states and territories, drawing on public advocacy against this framing of the offence, and provides further suggestions for reform.