The demonstration was organised by paedophile hunter Cheyenne O’Connor, who wants two major changes to sentencing policy.
The 26-year-old mother of two is calling for the introduction of a minimum jail sentence of three years for anyone convicted of a child sex offence. She also wants anyone convicted of such offences to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Currently people convicted of child sex crimes face community-based or custodial sentences of varying lengths, from just a few months upwards.
Miss O’Connor is also calling for what she describes as an ‘independent’ prosecutor from outside the Law Officers’ Department to handle all child sex crime cases.
Speaking at the protest, Miss O’Connor said: ‘I am hoping that the Attorney General and the Home Affairs Minister will see all of the support here today and decide to help to change the laws.
‘I want them to see that we need child sex offenders to be on the Sex Offenders Register for life because I believe these people need to be monitored for the rest of their lives.’
The protest, which lasted for almost one hour, saw two speakers address the crowd. The first was an abuse survivor who spoke about her own experiences, followed by child abuse campaigner and former Senator, Stuart Syvret.
Addressing the crowd, Mr Syvret said: ‘People would be forgiven for thinking, in light of the events over the last few years, that things had got better in Jersey. But sadly I would say that child protection is now actually worse than it was ten years ago.’
