Naming people charged with child sex offences can pressure them into reoffending, a psychologist specialising in rehabilitating cyber-sex criminals told the Otago Daily Times.
Speaking at the NetSafe conference in Queenstown, registered psychologist Nathan Gaunt said publicly exposing sex offenders raised several issues, including placing more stress on the perpetrator.
Increased stress levels raised the chances of reoffending, he said.
"I can see benefits and risks," Mr Gaunt said.
"Stress and isolation can also increase the risk of further harm . . . they need to be monitored if their name is going to be released."
Mr Gaunt said the name of the offender should never be released where it would also expose the victim.
When asked if there was a link between looking at child pornography on the Internet and physical offending, Mr Gaunt said there was research "for and against" it.
"It is often unclear which came first - the porn or the hands-on offending," he said.
United States psychologist and associate professor of early childhood education at the University of Florida, Ilene Berson, said the law there was very different from that in New Zealand.
There they have Megan's Law, which requires police to make the details of registered sex offenders public.
"You can go to online sites and find out their last known address and the next generation of that is where they are employed as well," Prof Berson said.
However she believed the availability of that information gave people a false sense of security.
"It doesn't take into account that these people can get in their cars, go to the supermarket, the mall or wherever," she said.
It also could not list unknown sex offenders, and offenders often had several victims before they were caught.
Mostly, the availability of the information fuelled concern about stranger danger.
Most sexually abused children were victims of people in their own family or close social network.
As well as having Megan's Law, there was no possibility of name suppression for alleged offenders, Prof Berson said.
"As soon as there is an allegation, assuming it's an adult, their [alleged offenders] names are made public."
