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.’
Among the protesters attending the demonstration was Brandon Dubois (25) who said that the current system was unjust.
‘I am here today because the sentence for paedophiles has to be much higher than it is. It is completely unacceptable that someone can face higher jail time for a drug charge than someone who rapes a child.
‘It doesn’t really feel like anyone is listening to us or is interested because nothing has changed since Cheyenne began exposing people,’ said Mr Dubois.
An e-petition calling for changes to the Island’s sentencing policy for child sex offences, which was launched by Miss O’Connor earlier this year, has so far gained more than 2,500 signatures. It needs at least 5,000 for it to be considered for debate in the States. A separate hard-copy petition has gained 1,000 signatures.
