Brief review of contemporary sexual offence and child sexual abuse legislation in Australia: 2015 update

Abstract

This report provides a brief overview of the offences that an individual who sexually abuses a child in an institutional setting may be charged with at the end of 2015. It provides information for each of the identified offences; these include the location of the offence in the respective state or territory's legislation, the age of the victim and aggravating factors.

Prepared by the Australian Institute of Criminology for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Disclaimer

The findings and opinions contained in this report are those of the authors and not the Royal Commission. Any errors are the author’s responsibility. The law as stated in this report is current to 31 December 2015.

 

Contents

  • Introduction
  • Contact offences
  • Non-contact offences
  • Child pornography offences: Production
  • Offences for which institutions and/or their representatives that were aware of child sexual abuse may be charged
  • References
  • Appendix A: Online access to current sexual offence legislature
  • Appendix B: Penalty units conversion