Dear Foxy,

«But courts have been frustrated by the lack of successful
prosecutions against sex offenders and the unfairness to victim»

It is never in the best interest of victims to make others suffer as well, including their old perpetrators. Some are ignorant of this truth, others blinded by anger, but courts should support the victims and their true interests rather then their destructive blind rage.

Haven't the victims suffered enough already?

Those who are willing to let go of their historical case and just live their lives in the present, gain peace. On the other hand, those who are holding onto and treasure their suffering, create more suffering to others and thereby ultimately to themselves in an endless vicious cycle that only makes the world a worse place.

This is not to say that the victims should forego their appropriate due compensation - and this is why, as should, civil courts always had more relaxed standards of evidence than criminal courts.

Looking somewhat deeper, beneath the limited human perspective, the term "unfair" can only apply to such potential future actions that ought to be avoided - nothing can be retrospectively unfair, nor in fact can there be any victims or coincidences: those who were sexually molested as children, were only handed back some previous karma for similar acts that they did in earlier lifetimes. The paedophile has only been the instrument for handing them this karma.

The best and healthiest approach when finding oneself at the receiving end of the stick, is to thank God for the opportunity to clear this old debt, then forget it and get on with life - this does not exclude taking timely and reasonable steps to prevent repeated abuse in the future, but not decades later when one is already an adult and can no longer be abused, nor when the perpetrator is old, frail or otherwise no longer capable of re-offending.

Yuyutsu, a well thought out and reasonable account of this tragic situation.
I empathise with your line of thinking, mainly because I believe that time changes everything.
But most of all I feel that the words relativity and forgiveness are major players in this particular situation.
As much as there are those with little or no understanding, tolerance, and the capacity to reason, and are quick to condemn and begin gathering rocks to throw at such people, I would consider his demeanor today.
I have been appalled at the flood of accusations dating back to when people had a better hold on reality, on what is being called 'historical' claims.
Even the tax department has a time limit on claims.
Let us not forget, I will randomly remind people, that the much loved Bill Shortarsen was accused of RAPE, and the wonderful police and justice system that some twats on OLO constantly remind us, are as pure as the driven snow, decided not to proceed with the case, because THEY thought it was not worth following up, and believed Shortarsen over the word of the girl, on the basis that it was her word against his.
This was not 40 years later either it was soon after she was raped, and so where is the justice exercised by our wonderful justice system, according to some deluded, immature, petulant commentors.
I would love to see him go free, if only to teach his detractors a lesson in humility, amongst other things.

// those who were sexually molested as children, were only handed back some previous karma for similar acts that they did in earlier lifetimes. The paedophile has only been the instrument for handing them this karma.//

Yuyutsu, what a load of crap! According to you this is gods will. Looking for a non existent justification is simply being an apologist.
You can call everything you want to justify as gods will, slavery, mass murder. Lets take it to the nth degree, by your reasoning Ivan Milat should be set free, after all he is innocent of wrong doing, he was merely the instrument of the lord. The guilty party were the seven backpackers, Ivan was simply the instrument of god dishing out some karma. You have no concept of the meaning of karma.

Then the resident forum know-it-all, backs you up with his two cents worth; //Yuyutsu, a well thought out and reasonable account of this tragic situation.// ALTRAV how can you call it tragic, its gods will, nothing tragic about it!

Paul,

Good hammer that you have, it hits the nail on the head!!

Dear ALTRAV,

Thank you for your support, but when it comes to politics I really am not interested. Prison is an horrendous place and I do not wish it on anyone, including Bill Shorten.

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Dear Paul,

Retrospectively, everything that had already happened was God's will.
Retrospectively, everything that was inflicted on us, whether pleasant or unpleasant, was a result of our previous karma.

But as for the future, we do not know God's will, for otherwise we would not be able to exercise our own, seemingly separate, will. We also do not know how much or how little karma we personally carry from former lifetimes.

Regarding Ivan Milat, I never heard of him before and don't know about the case, but yes, any prisoner who no longer poses a danger to others should be set free. I don't know whether or not this is the case for Ivan Milat. For the backpackers he served as an instrument of God, but if (admittedly most likely, but it is not for us to judge) his individual will was also involved, then he too has acquired such karma equivalent to being killed seven times. In that case, whatever we do or not as humans, Ivan will not be able to avoid this karma, but woe unto him/her who willingly serves that karma on Ivan.

Yuyutsu,

You can forget all that karma and god nonsense, unless you have been living under a rock, every Australian adult would know of Ivan Milat the notorious backpacker murderer.
Nope, Ivan's not getting out anytime soon, regardless of karma or god.