What do you think the penalty should be for this crime?

Horrifying! And I'm ashamed to admit that I totally expected the teacher to be male and the student female.
I have no idea what a suitable punishment would be... that's some kind of serious mental disturbance and sickness to behave that way.
She should have to foot the therapy bill for that poor child, in addition to whatever else she should be punished with.

It reminded me of the lady who chased after the 6th grader years ago. She went to jail and when she got out got caught having sex with him. These people have to have something wrong with them. Clearly she cannot put herself in her right mind.

Can a 10 year old boy even "do it?" That seems so young!

I think that anyone who can look at a child and think romantic thoughts and want to have sex with that child, serves no purpose on this earth. It's disgusting and don't even play the mental health card. It's just wrong and if it was a male teacher there would be no evaluations. He would be strung up by his balls and people would be screaming for action. This woman should receive the same harsh punishment and hopefully a very long jail sentence as any man would receive.

I think that any guilty verdict like this should carry the loss of a teaching license.

It is very difficult to imagine having a student's name tattooed on oneself. Yikes! That is crazy!

Is there a permanent sexual predator status in Australia?

Legally, indecent exposure seems to be her crime, and that is a misdemeanor. Requiring mental health evaluation is to everyone's benefit, and she really seems to need that.

There is no cure for pedophilia. The same punishment should apply to both men and women and it should be a life sentence, since it's not something that can ever be controlled successfully. Sounds harsh and it is harsh. She's dangerous.

  

I agree with this completely. I simply do not believe that pedophiles or sexual predators can be rehabilitated.

I seriously want to vomit. That poor child. And the teachers family. I cant imagine how mortified they must be.

I have a good friend who is a therapist working with sex offenders, intense therapeutic intervention, can work but for most it is a constant struggle. She says if they get caught early on and want to learn how to not act on desires and how to create negative associations with those desires they can go on to have fairly normal lives.  

I think this woman got of very easily! I do hope she has to remain on a sex offender list and stay away from schools.  I feel sorry for her children.

There have been many incidents of female teachers propositioning or having sexual relationships with students. Though most are high school, but a few are lower grades. Look at Mary Kay Laturneu(sp). She was married, had four children and was sexually active with a thirteen year old sixth grade student and got pregnant. She had two children from this boy before he finished middle school. She served seven years after failing to comply with the court's orders. She was about 35 at the time and once the boy reached age 18 they married. I think they are still married - creepy.

This is a bit of a pet peeve of mine but people throw the term Pedophilia around for any sexual offender where the offense involves a minor. It is a diagnosis done by a doctor just like any mental health disorder. Pedophilia is paraphillia which is a mental health disorder where the individual is sexually stimulated by persons or objects out of the norm. Many are legal and somewhat socially acceptable but some are very dangerous. The correct term unless you are a health professional is child molester or preferential child molester. We do not know if an individual is a pedophile unless labeled as such by a health professional.

With that in mind, generally treatment to eliminate the behavior is not successful. For example, if you are a heterosexual and I put you in treatment program to make you a homosexual, will your attraction to the opposite sex diminish and change you so you are attracted to people of the same sex? Not likely. You may be able to fake it, but that innate attraction to the opposite sex will not disappear.

So sex offenders must be managed by very intense supervision, support and incarceration. But can a person be incarcerated forever? No, so support/education is also important so if the offender is motivated to remain out of an institution they will recognize triggers and learn to avoid situations where they may offend. It is a conundrum.

Footnote; I have worked in the field and am a criminal justice professor.