From Queensland, renewed calls to end the use of character witnesses when sentencing those convicted of sexual offences:
"Good character" evidence was included in 91.6 per cent of the 131 rape cases sentences in the District Court from July 2022 to June 2023. "It can be particularly galling to a victim-survivor to hear at the time of the sentence that the person who perpetrated sexual harm on them is otherwise a 'good guy', a 'great father' or a model employee of citizen," the report said. "It is even more upsetting when these statements are referred to uncritically by the sentencing judge and magistrate — even if in practice they may be given little weight."
