The Behaviour of Serial Child Sex Offenders: Implications for the Prosecution of Child Sex Offences in Joint Trials

[This article summarises the literature on child sex offender (‘CSO’) recidivism and sexual behaviour, in order to consider the implications for the rules used at common law and under the uniform Evidence Acts (‘UEAs’) for excluding propensity/tendency and coincidence/similar fact evidence in trials involving multiple complainants. By analysing two distinct lines of authority from courts of appeal in New South Wales and Victoria, this article demonstrates that the use of the ‘striking similarities’ test and similar formulations under the UEA shows a lack of understanding of the wide variety in the behaviour of CSOs who do not demonstrate a propensity for strikingly similar behaviours with different victims. In recommending reforms to the UEA to reflect the reality of CSO sexual behaviour, the article concludes that the striking similarities test and similar formulations should be abandoned when assessing the cross-admissibility of the evidence of multiple complainants in a joint trial involving child sex offences.]