One of Dundee’s leading children’s campaigners has congratulated the Tele on our campaign demanding mandatory jail terms for anyone convicted of sexual offences involving a child.
Laurie Matthew, co-founder of Eighteen and Under, explained why she has signed our petition aimed at heaping pressure on those in the corridors of power.
More than 8,000 readers have already signed the Tele’s Our Kids Need Justice campaign to jail child sex offenders.
PETITION: Sign the Tele’s petition to jail child sex offenders
Eighteen and Under provides a confidential support service for young victims of serious sexual abuse.
Laurie said: “I was delighted to sign the Tele’s petition. I think what the paper is doing is brilliant.
“It shows that the Tele understands the situation that’s happening under our noses and is using its power to influence its readers in a very positive and helpful way.”
Laurie added: “I signed the petition because our kids do not get justice.
“Throughout the system there are so many times and so many people who do not receive custodial sentences for their abuse of our children.
“When this happens it minimises what has happened to these children.”
Laurie said that ongoing online abuse of children, along with the sharing of pictures and images, was a very serious cause for concern.
She said: “Sometimes the people who have committed these crimes are treated as though nothing has happened.
“This is simply not the case. Crimes such as these are devastating for both children and adults.
“I want to see proper sentences that reflect the harm that has been done. If this petition can do anything to help, then I am right behind it.”
We launched the campaign to lock up people who prey on our children 10 months ago and we started our petition at the beginning of May.
Tele editor Dave Lord said he was delighted that Laurie had chosen to sign up.
He said: “We have been overwhelmed by the level of support for our campaign demanding mandatory jail terms for anyone convicted of a sexual offence involving a child.
“When an individual preys on a vulnerable, innocent child in some twisted effort to gain sexual gratification, there is only one appropriate sentence – and that is imprisonment.”