A recommendation that sex offenders be jailed for up to 32 months for serious cases of sexual exploitation has been described as “woefully inadequate” by a child protection agency.

The Coalition for the Protection of Children (CPC) spoke out after Chief Justice Ian Kawaley released sentencing guidelines to assist magistrates presiding over sex cases.

Mr Justice Kawaley acknowledged that concern over sentencing of sex offenders had increased in recent years, while magistrates had occasionally come under unjustified criticism.

Although he recommended that child pornography peddlers should expect a custodial sentence of up to four-and-a-half years, serious exploitation charges warranted a sentence of between 16 and 32 months in jail.

Last night CPC chairman Sheelagh Cooper said that, while the guidelines were welcome, some sex offenders needed to be given tougher sentences in a higher court.

“As to the actual sentencing, it seems that a maximum of 32 months for serious sexual exploitation is woefully inadequate,” Ms Cooper said.

“Our hope is that this is balanced with the recommendation that serious offences be sent to the Supreme Court where the range of sentence is considerably greater than in Magistrates’ Court. One can only hope that these matters are indeed bumped up to the higher court.”

But Ms Cooper did say that other aspects of the guidelines were helpful.

“In particular the publication of factors that would be either mitigating or aggravating for sentencing purposes is particularly valuable because no longer can a Magistrate use the argument that the child victim somehow was partly responsible for her own victimisation as a reason for a reduced penalty,” she said.

“The guidelines from that perspective are sensible and timely.”