The "tendency" for child abuse offenders to strike again after being convicted of a previous offence should be taken into account in a court case, Northern Victoria MP Tania Maxwell has argued.
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The Wangaratta-based MP, who is part of Derryn Hinch's Justice Party, has taken her idea to Victoria's Attorney General Jill Hennessy.
Juries involved in trials for sex offences in Victoria are not told whether an accused person has committed similar crimes in the past, instead asked to focus on the evidence to do with the current case.
But Ms Maxwell said the disclosure of perpetrators' histories should be brought into the spotlight.
"There will very likely be better outcomes for victims if a pattern of offending behaviour is allowed to be presented," she said.
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"We know historically that only around a third of sexual abuse cases make it to court, let alone succeed in a conviction, because the thresholds have been so high.
"I would suggest there are also opportunities to extend this into other offence areas, such as family violence.
"Too often we see vital evidence relating to the history of offenders omitted from evidence, which allows offenders to elude the full weight of our laws and the community's expectation of justice for victims."
There will very likely be better outcomes for victims if a pattern of offending behaviour is allowed to be presented.
- MP Tania Maxwell
The push for changes comes after legislation was introduced in NSW Parliament for the state to become the first in Australia to allow juries to hear about past child abuse crimes.
Ms Maxwell said this "tendency evidence" should also be introduced in Victoria.
Speaking in Parliament, NSW Attorney General said the complex area of child abuse law needed to be amended. "It provides clear guidance to courts on the probative value of certain tendency evidence," he said.
Tendency evidence can be used in other Victorian cases, such as arson.
This type of evidence helped a jury come to a guilty verdict in the recent trial of Lisa Hay, who set fire to her elderly Wangaratta neighbour's home in the middle of the night.
No witnesses saw Hay at the scene, but the prosecution argued during the trial that because she had pleaded guilty to lighting fires at another neighbour's home in the previous months, she was most likely to be the person responsible for the next fire.
