Sex offender scheme will 'create climate of mistrust'
Samantha Payne, 15 September 2008, Kent
Online, UK
A Kent-based professor has expressed his horror at a new Home Office scheme that will allow parents to check if someone close to them is a
sex offender.
Frank Furedi, a sociology professor at the University of Kent, said he
fears the pilot projects will create a "powerful climate of mistrust" within communities.
He said:
"I think it is a horrible idea. It creates all kinds of precedents.
If you create a situation where you can go to the police to get information on somebody else on one issue, why not on something else?
It's likely to create a very powerful climate of mistrust and create a
danger where people will maliciously use the information to get back at
others.
It is going to lead to an explosion of confusing information circulating in communities and a lot of people are going to be hurt by
this."
Under the measures parents will be able to check whether a person who
has access to their child, such as a child's nanny, neighbour or a mother's new boyfriend, has convictions for child sexual offences.
[...]
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:
"Giving parents the ability to find out if someone close to their child poses a risk will empower them. It
will also help them to understand how to better protect their children."
The pilots are the result of the Government's Child Sex Offender Review
which was published in June 2007.
They have been developed with advice from charities such as the NSPCC.
Currently anyone can register a concern about an individual and/or child, which will be investigated. But there is no standardised process
or mechanism for the public to make an inquiry or receive relevant information.
Diana Sutton, head of policy at the NSPCC said:
"We will have to wait and see if the pilot programmes help to keep children safe from sex
offenders and do not just create a false sense of security.
We strongly urge people to remain alert to the fact that not all child
abusers have criminal records because many are not caught and charged with an offence. Someone might be given a clean bill of health by police
because they do not have a criminal record but may still pose a threat
to children.
We must have a package of measures which include public education, people reporting any concerns they have to police or the NSPCC and
effective treatment for offenders. Only then can we cautiously begin to
feel that children will be safe from sex offenders."
How it will work
 | The police will run two types of checks on the individual -
 | a priority check within 24 hours and |
| a full risk-assessment within ten working days.
|
|
| If the person is found to have convictions for sexual offences against
children the case will be referred to a MAPPA panel made up of police,
probation, prison service and other relevant agencies to make the final
decision on disclosure.
|
| If the person poses a risk of causing serious harm to the child involved, there is a presumption that this information will be disclosed
to the parent, carer or guardian.
|
| It may be the case that the subject is not known to the police for
child sexual offences but is showing worrying behaviour or is known for
other offences that might put children's safety at risk, such as serious
domestic violence. In this case the police will work with parents to
protect children and provide advice and support under safeguarding children procedures. |
