Bermuda's Solicitor General has declared.

Mr. Barrie Meade said this was the toughest Magistrates' Court punishment under the Protection of Children Act.

He was answering criticism from the Coalition for the Protection of Children.

The Coalition complained the Act provided for a less than $100 fine for a child molester.

Mr. Meade said anyone summarily convicted of cruelty to children could be jailed for 12 months or fined $840 -- or face both penalties.

Coalition co-chairperson Ms Sheelagh Cooper made the claim about the Act's powers to a meeting of Government's new child abuse task force.

She said the legislation was hopelessly out of date and needed to be reviewed.

Ms Cooper went on to attack Attorney General Mr. Walter Maddocks and his chambers.

"If we were to identify the single biggest problem in the criminal justice process where child protection is concerned, it would have to be the Department of the Attorney General and perhaps, more specifically, the Attorney General himself.

"Over the two year period that we have been involved with child protection, we have watched case after case be prepared by Police, replete with volumes of evidence, turned away time after time by the Attorney General.

"Decisions are almost never made to prosecute child abuse cases, unless the perpetrator is willing to plead guilty.

Ms Cooper added: "If you molest children in this community, you stand as much chance of being prosecuted as you do crashing in an airplane or winning the lottery.

"Admittedly, sexual assault on a child is a serious charge and the rights of people to fair treatment within the judicial system must be protected.

"But the rights of perpetrators are protected very much at the expense of the child victims.'' But Mr. Meade said the Attorney General's chambers essentially followed the "best principles of criminal justice'' in the western world.

Ms Cooper's criticism of the chambers amounted to an attack on these principles of law, he said.

Mr. Meade also responded to the Coalition's claim the Police and the prosecution worked in "almost complete isolation''.

He said the Crown already had a child abuse case specialist, Mr. Stephen Harrison.

"He works in close consultation with the Police,'' said Mr. Meade.

Police were also in the firing line at last Thursday night's meeting at Cathedral Hall.

The Coalition said many Police officers had little or no training or expertise in child abuse cases.

"The past two years have been replete with horror stories from parents who have had to deal with the Police on the front line.

"One parent received a threatening phone call from a Police officer suggesting that she retract her allegation of abuse against an officer's friend.

"Another mother, when she went to the Police to lay a complaint about her child having been molested, was told by the investigating officer that the child's vaginal area was red because she drank too much Koolaid.

"Although some efforts have been made in this direction, they have been piecemeal and entirely inadequate.'' Ms Cooper said a lack of expertise was "eventually compounded by the eventual lack of effort''.

Police have declined to comment on the criticism.

In her wide-ranging presentation, Ms Cooper spoke of three factors linked to families of children at risk of abuse.

These were poverty, teenage pregnancies, and parents being abused themselves as children.

"If we are to improve the chances that all our children will grow up in a safe and nurturing environment, we will need to make changes in our community that will directly address these major risk factors.'' Ms Cooper said schools were the front line of defence against child abuse.

"Teachers are the people most likely to see the results either because a child has unexplained bruises, or is badly neglected or exhibits highly aggressive or highly sexualised behaviour.

"Teachers need the backup that counsellors can provide because they do not have the time to fully investigate cases of this sort.

"Without easy access to assistance in this area, problems tend to get ignored and children who could be saved are not.'' Ms Cooper called for a programme to recruit and train volunteer classroom helpers for early primary grades.

Every primary school should also have at least one full time counsellor, she said.

She added the Education Department should set out a discipline policy, which outlines consequences for teachers who violate it.

"Practices such as taping a child's mouth shut, tying a child up or hitting a child, should carry immediate and substantial consequences.''