Order of the Bath

The publication today of a new bill “Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups” sets me thinking again about the perilous state of justice in this country. I am not fully conversant with all the rules but am clear on what principles ought to apply. These are

• No punishment without a conviction, and this includes being placed on a register. Being “known to the police” is not a conviction. (Education Secretary, Ruth) “Kelly announced that in future, cautions for more minor sex offences would be treated in the same way as convictions—both would lead to a ban on working with children.” This is not justice.
• Punishment in proportion to the crime, which does not include being put on a list for life after a minor misdemeanour. Now a parent may say that they wouldn’t want a pervert teaching their child. But if that conviction was for Indecent Exposure, and when you look at it closely, is actually for urinating in a public place whilst a drunk student, then is a lifelong of vilification on a Sex Offenders Register proportional punishment?

Even in more serious cases, the law generally allows for repentance; it is a requirement for Christian Society. I’m sure that there used to be a system that all relatively minor sentences (I think the figure was less than a five year prison tariff) would be wiped from the slate after a period of time. This needs to be applied across the board for, what hope does an offender have if there is no prospect for them to start again.

“Barred individuals will have a right of appeal.” but that is too late, the damage has been done by then.

Finally, I see from the news report, that “Parents for the first time will be able to check online the barred status when they’re employing a nanny or a music teacher” according to Children’s Minister, Beverley Hughes. This again raises loads of questions about identity, security and accuracy. The new guy upstairs is advertising piano lessons, let’s check to see if he is going to molest our kids, what was his name again?

This entry was posted on 1 Mar 2006 at 09:16 by Rick and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.