Brief review of contemporary sexual offence and child sexual abuse legislation in Australia

Abstract

"Prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse." To help the Royal Commission with its work, this report was commissioned to detail the offences that an individual who sexually abuses a child in an institutional setting may be charged with, across each of the different jurisdictions of Australia as of 31 December 2013. This review has divided the offences into six sections: contact sexual offences where the child is below the legal age of consent; contact sexual offences where the child is above the legal age of consent; contact sexual offences where the age of the victim is not specified; non-contact sexual offences - including procurement, grooming, and indecent exposure; child pornography offences; and offences for which institutions or their representatives that were aware of child sexual abuse may be charged.