The National Register for Sexual Offenders : the solution to protecting children in South Africa?

Abstract

On the 16 of June 2009 the South African government put into force the National Register for Sexual Offenders in an attempt to alleviate the problem of sexual crime. The aim of this dissertation was thus, to engage in a comparative study on how the National Register for Sexual Offenders will operate in South Africa compared to a similarly implemented register in the UK, with specific references being made to the US. The dissertation also sought to ask the question of whether the implementation of the register could be the solution to protecting children in South Africa. After, an analysis into sexual offender registers abroad, the findings revealed that registers are not proactive, a crime must have already occurred and an offender must be listed on the register, before the register can be of any preventative value. Furthermore, they are expensive to maintain they are punitive and impede on any form of rehabilitation or reintegration of offenders into society. As to whether the register could make South African communities safer, further research showed that the conviction rate of child sex abuse is very low as only one in nine children ever report such abuse and only 4% of these cases will result in conviction. Therefore because the provisions of the register require an offender to be convicted before they are registered, the consequence is that very few sex offenders will be listed on the register. Moreover the provisions of the register are narrow and seek to prevent registered offenders from being employed in positions where they may have access to children. Such an approach fails to recognise that in South Africa the majority of sexual offences involving children occur within the family environment and not at the work place. The conclusion of the research is that the National Register for Sex Offenders is not the solution to protecting children in South Africa and it was recommended that the South African government should look into a more immediate, long term and preventative solution to curbing sexual crime.