Tougher Laws For Child Sex Offences: Stephen Harper
Canada is all set to impose even tougher laws against child sex offenders.
It has been proposed by the Conservatives that the spouse should be compelled to testify against the offender in cases related to child porn. Those who offend against more than one victim should get consecutive sentences.
The government is planning on imposing longer terms in jail for child offenders, announced Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He declared on Thursday that it was incomprehensible for him as a father why an offender would choose a child to prey on. He said that the legislation would introduce tougher laws as it was going to increase minimum and maximum sentences. This will need the offenders to face multiple consecutive sentences instead of concurrent ones. The laws will indulge the spouses in testifying against the offenders in court.
Harper was talking at a news conference where he opined that he neither understood sex offenders not did he care understanding them. He reported that the number of child pornography had increased on a significant level. It has been noted that over half the sexual victims are minors.
Harper's office provided statistics which showed that 3,900 cases had been reported for sexual violations against children in 2012. There has been an increase of 6 per cent in comparison with the cases reported in 2010. Harper thought it would be unwise to waste time on taking a decision if the issue is critically important. The government should act immediately on making the laws.
Mr Harper named Gordon Stuckless as an example. Mr Stuckless was convicted about 15 years back for assaulting boys sexually when he served at Maple Leaf Gardens. The PM said that the new laws would protect children from people like Mr Stuckless. Even though Mr Stuckless got paroled in the year 2001, he has presently been facing over 70 fresh charges against him.
The new laws are apparently going to prevent offenders from repeating their act by imposing longer sentences.
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