Firstly a little background. . .
On July 1st 2000 an 8 year old girl named Sarah Payne was abducted and murdered by Roy Whiting.
Sarah vanished from a corn field in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex. Her body was discovered in a field near Pulborough, approximately 15 miles from where she was abducted.
As a result of this dreadful crime in Sarah's parents and The News of The World spearheaded a campaign to make it possible for concerned parents can enquire about a named person whom they suspect may be asexual offender.
If the person in question is subject to the UK sex offenders register then in certain circumstances a parent or guardian may be told. However details of the person's convictions will not be shared by the authorities.
So I turn to my reason for writing; that is that back in December a man wrote to Inside Time suggesting that in fact all sex offenders details should be made public. Of course such action would be entirely stupid and somewhat ridiculous.
There are more than enough people homeless and living on the streets as it is and this would of course be made worse if sex offenders had nowhere to live in safety upon release from prison or indeed whilst serving community sentences.
I do appreciate that sexual offences particularly against children are hard to swallow and I do fully believe in the some sort of control of convicted offenders, but it is common sense to realise that not all of those convicted have actually committed the offence for which they were sentenced.
Yes there are things that a sex offender can do in order to settle back in to everyday life including seeking a change of name by deed poll and of course relocating to a new area where he or she is not known. This can then be a real worry to parents and families, but remember NO matter how angry and upset you are by a person's offending it would not be safe to disclose convictions openly in public.
"But the dirty wrong-un deserves it" some will say, that's not the point of this blog. If all convicted sex offenders details were released in to the public domain there would be violence and vigilantism on the streets, not only the offender would be in danger but other members of the public, the offenders family and indeed the police would be
at risk of harm.
Parolees would not be able to settle anywhere and there would just be mayhem. Those that need to know such as the police and local authorities have the information and it is their duty to protect the public.
To come back to my original point lets remember that there are men and women on the UK sex offenders register that have not committed the crimes that have caused them to be on there. Some of you will rant at me and accuse me of somehow supporting sex offenders but that is NOT even close to the truth.
I am a campaigner against miscarriages of justice and spend a lot of my spare time fighting against injustice. I do not believe that it is right for names of any convicted person, regardless of their offence to be banded about the country. I do not want to see innocent people injured or worse still dead because someone's released their details to the wrong person.
To be honest I don't give a monkey's fart whether you are against sex offenders, whether you are one i am merely saying what I feel is right and want to see everyone kept safe
No comments:
Post a Comment