I think we have to distinguish between (1) the elements of the actual crime of which he was convicted, (2) sentencing factors, (3) prosecutorial discretion.
His prior criminal acts, the impact he had on his victim, etc, are all relevant to (2) and (3), but not to (1).
Regarding (3), I honestly don't feel very comfortable with the idea "let's have massively over-broad laws, but trust prosecutors to only use them against people who really deserve it". Should I put that much trust in prosecutors? My uncle is the second most senior prosecutor in Victoria, and from what I know of him, I honestly believe his heart is in the right place. On the other hand, just this last week Shane Drumgold has been giving everyone a rather poor impression of himself. But, putting personalities aside, in principle, I just don't like it. Maybe some degree of it is inevitable, but I feel like in this area of law we've taken it much further than we ever should have.
If they had criminalised convicted sex offenders publicly defaming their victims–I wouldn't have a problem with such a law, or with him being prosecuted under it. That would be a narrower law, vastly more defensible, vastly less concerning.
But by the letter of the law under which he was actually convicted, he would have committed the exact same offence if he'd just written that comment in his private diary, with no intention to ever show it to anybody. Now, if that was the scenario (let's assume they found his diary in a search), quite possibly the police/DPP would have decided against charging him – but there's no guarantee of that. In the event they did charge him, the sentence would have been significantly more lenient. But the actual criminal conviction would have been exactly the same.
The idea that mere writing words in a private diary is the same crime as filming the actual rape of children – including the former in the offence seems (to me) to belittle the heinousness of the latter.
And I'm not comfortable with the idea that a person can commit a crime just by putting words in their private diary – even if they are absolute unrepentant scum like Bester – as I said, it is about the principle, not the worth of the person to whom it is applied.
His prior criminal acts, the impact he had on his victim, etc, are all relevant to (2) and (3), but not to (1).
Regarding (3), I honestly don't feel very comfortable with the idea "let's have massively over-broad laws, but trust prosecutors to only use them against people who really deserve it". Should I put that much trust in prosecutors? My uncle is the second most senior prosecutor in Victoria, and from what I know of him, I honestly believe his heart is in the right place. On the other hand, just this last week Shane Drumgold has been giving everyone a rather poor impression of himself. But, putting personalities aside, in principle, I just don't like it. Maybe some degree of it is inevitable, but I feel like in this area of law we've taken it much further than we ever should have.
If they had criminalised convicted sex offenders publicly defaming their victims–I wouldn't have a problem with such a law, or with him being prosecuted under it. That would be a narrower law, vastly more defensible, vastly less concerning.
But by the letter of the law under which he was actually convicted, he would have committed the exact same offence if he'd just written that comment in his private diary, with no intention to ever show it to anybody. Now, if that was the scenario (let's assume they found his diary in a search), quite possibly the police/DPP would have decided against charging him – but there's no guarantee of that. In the event they did charge him, the sentence would have been significantly more lenient. But the actual criminal conviction would have been exactly the same.
The idea that mere writing words in a private diary is the same crime as filming the actual rape of children – including the former in the offence seems (to me) to belittle the heinousness of the latter.
And I'm not comfortable with the idea that a person can commit a crime just by putting words in their private diary – even if they are absolute unrepentant scum like Bester – as I said, it is about the principle, not the worth of the person to whom it is applied.