The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development informed the Committee that the Children's Act was passed before the 2007 Act; hence some of the terms used in the Children's Act are obsolete. It proposed that a legislative solution would be to align the wording in the Children's Act with the wording in the 2007 Act. The Children's Act did not make stipulations for all common law sexual offences and those offences which related to children which are contained in the Sexual Offences Act, 1957 (Act 23 of 1957). Because of this omission the practical effect of section 120 (5) of the Children's Act was applicable in respect of the convictions that took place after 31 March 2005, but do not refer to the sexual offences that had been committed against children after 16 December 2007 when the 2007 Act came into effect. It therefore cautioned that reference to "attempted rape" without any reference to the 2007 Act could be interpreted as a reference to a conviction of attempted rape in terms of the common law only. The department advised that it would be more appropriate to amend section 120 (4) and (5) of the Children's Act by including a reference to section 55 of the 2007 Act.