Calls for South Africa's national sex offenders register to be made public has sparked much debate. Can knowing the identity of people convicted of sex crimes really help to eliminate such violence?
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00:00Would you want to know if your neighbor was once convicted of a sex crime?
00:04While South Africans are currently debating the merits of making their national register
00:08for sex offenders public, and opinions are mixed.
00:13I think that register is just useless.
00:15I think that one can also help.
00:18But perhaps you're wondering if revealing the identity of rapists and child molesters
00:23in a country where the statistics are shocking can actually make a difference.
00:27Welcome to The Flipside.
00:30Build One South Africa and several other organizations and political parties
00:34are lobbying the government to make the register for sex offenders public.
00:38Their campaign has, however, drawn mixed responses.
00:41They say, I'm going to Cape Town.
00:44I meet someone.
00:45I'll first say, let me go and check how you are on the books.
00:50Are you good or you are a rapist or what?
00:54We don't have that time to go and search for those books.
00:59I think that one can also help.
01:02Because maybe some of them, they can feel that they embarrass their family, their generations.
01:13I'm American and there's definitely a sex offender list.
01:16You can go online and see if someone moves in your neighborhood.
01:20You get notifications.
01:22Is the solution to a high sex crime rate really knowing who the convicted perpetrators are?
01:28Should it not be a question of implementing and enforcing the law on sex crimes?
01:33That perpetrator who's currently in jail could actually be out in 12 years.
01:39That person could be out on the streets.
01:40That person could be out asking you on a date.
01:43That person could be asking for work in your home, in your company.
01:48And you would have no idea who that is.
01:50So we've called for the register to be made public and to have easy access for South Africans
01:56so that we are now taking on a more preventative kind of step
01:59towards reducing the rate of gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa.
02:06What many people may not know is that in South Africa,
02:09many sex offenders are repeat offenders.
02:12Nine out of 10 sexual offenses are repeat offenders.
02:16And so that is a very, very, very high rate.
02:20So definitely, if you have a public register,
02:26it will, first of all, mean that it's less likely for a perpetrator
02:31to be able to gain access to spaces where they can offend for the second time.
02:36Secondly, it will mean that communities are aware and are on high alert,
02:41which could potentially reduce recidivism.
02:44But it means also that because you, as a previous perpetrator,
02:48are quite aware of the fact that you are known to have been convicted of a crime like this before,
02:56you're less likely to try that again.
02:59And that is the flip side.