Parents, before hiring a babysitter, please do a check on the Child Sex Offenders Registry. Those working in childcare such as schools and daycare centres are also urged to utilise the registry to screen job applicants before hiring staff or teachers.
Starting from 1st April, the public can check the Child Sex Offenders Registry to see if a person has a prior record of the offence.
The checks are free of charge and can be done at the state and district Social Welfare Department (JKM) offices by providing the identity card or passport number of the individual to be checked, said Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh.
Those who check at the state Social Welfare Department offices will have immediate results, whereas those done at the district office would need five working days, according to Bernama. She said that the checks would only show if there is a record or not. Details of the offence will not be given as that is considered private and confidential information.
If the person has no record, the results will appear instantaneously, whereas if the individual has a record connected to a child sexual crime, time is needed for JKM to verify with the courts if the conviction is being appealed, reported The Star.
For the Safety of Children
This system can be used by many parties, including parents who want to get the services of a childminder, child care centre operators who want to know the background of job applicants, and all centres involving children.
The registry has over 3,000 names of sexual offenders who were found guilty since 2017 to 28th Feb 2019. She added that the number is growing and the database would be updated on a monthly basis with the help of the police and courts, according to The New Straits Times.
The registry includes offences under other acts which involve children. However, currently the check is limited to sexual crimes against children. This is the first phase of the system, and the next phase will see a tightening of related laws including the Children Act 2001 which will further help children, said Yeoh.
However, she cautioned that everyone should always remain vigilant even if the individual has no record of child sex crimes. This is because a majority of those found guilty of child sexual crimes are first-time offenders.
In 2017, there were 314 people found guilty, out of which 300 were first offenders and 14 were repeat offenders. For 2018, there were a total of 639 people who were found guilty, out of which 605 were first offenders and 34 repeat offenders.
When asked if the list of offenders would be made public, she said not yet as it would require further discussions with other ministries, the police, and courts.
The ministry is also planning to include the names of sexual offenders from other countries with the cooperation of police and foreign governments.
Precaution is Key
Yeoh stresses on the importance of precaution, and encourages parents, schools, daycare centres, and even religious institutions such as Sunday schools and tahfiz schools to do the proper checks on a person’s background before allowing them to work closely with children, reported The Malay Mail.
Although the ministry is considering making it compulsory for schools to apply for such background checks, this would take some time to come into effect as it requires amending laws. For now, as the list of names increases, the public is strongly encouraged to check backgrounds as precaution.
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