§ Mrs. Helen ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her statement of 17 December 2001,Official Report, column 7, on sex offenders, for what reason she has concluded that it is not in the interests of child protection to make people's names and addresses widely accessible in the community; and if she will make a statement. [25515]
§ Beverley HughesThe police already have and use the power to disclose information to members of the public about sex offenders in the community where, in their judgment, it is necessary to do so to prevent a crime from being committed. We believe, in common with the public protection agencies, that making information about sex offenders widely available would hinder child protection rather than helping it. Offenders subject to the requirements of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 would be less likely to comply with those requirements if they knew their details would be publicly available, and might be driven into hiding due to fear of vigilante action. Sex offenders in this situation would not then be subject to the inhibiting controls of the public protection agencies and, for example, would be less likely to undertake treatment due to a fear of being identified. As a result, they would pose a greater risk to children.
181WThis conclusion is borne out by the experience following the News of the World's sex offender campaigns in 1998 and 2000. The Association of Chief Officers of Probation provided anecdotal evidence about the effects of those campaigns, including that a number of high risk sex offenders lost contact with the public protection agencies; many others who were previously participating in treatment programmes stopped doing so for fear of being identified; a number of serious assaults on people who were mistaken for sex offenders took place; and the families, who in some cases had been the victims of sex offenders, were also assaulted and abused by members of the public. All these factors are deeply regrettable but perhaps the most regrettable potential consequence of community notification is that children will be placed at greater risk from sex offenders who are not complying with the requirements of the Sex Offenders Act.
The National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has also recently published a report on the community notification system in the United States (Megan's Law). That report concludes:
There is very little evidence to substantiate claims that community notification enhances child safety".