UK readies largest ‘anti -pedophile’ database on Earth
Published: September 11, 2009
Updated 6 months ago
The United Kingdom will roll out on Saturday the first phase of an anti-pedophile system called the “Vetting and Barring Scheme,” which will ultimately create what one British newspaper referenced as “the largest database of its kind in the world.”
“It’s not as quite as radical as it sounds,” explained UK children’s Minister Delyth Morgan in an interview with the BBC.
The Vetting and Barring Scheme is essentially a system of criminal background checks that is mandatory for every paid worker in a job which gives them access to children. Those workers must pay a fee of £64 to register themselves with the new agency, established by the government’s Independent Safeguarding Authority.
If those workers — estimated to be some 11.3 million people — do not pay the fee and register with the database, they will be subjected to a fine of up to £5,000 and a mark on their criminal record, according to The Telegraph.
Others required to register for the database include volunteers, or anyone who has any supervisory role over a child that is not theirs. This would even include parent drivers, who volunteer to carpool others’ children home, noted Politics.co.uk.
Criminal penalties will be imposed should a business allow anyone barred under the scheme near a child or “vulnerable person.”
“Those who are cleared by the ISA will be placed on a separate list, which can be checked by charities and employers on the internet. It will be constantly updated to reflect any new criminal convictions or intelligence,” noted The Mail Online.
“A person’s registration status is continuously monitored and if any new information such as a relevant caution or conviction, or information from employers comes to light, the ISA is informed,” adds a government-produced FAQ on the scheme. “They will re-assess the person’s potential risk to vulnerable groups and decide whether or not it is appropriate to permit continuing registration.
“It was recommended after the murders in Soham of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by the caretaker at their school, Ian Huntley,” added Sky News. “He was given the job despite allegations of sex with underage girls in his past, which were not passed on.”
The Telegraph noted: “Critics warned the system, the largest database of its kind in the world, is disproportionate and will put people off volunteering or carrying out public duties.”
In a separate piece, Mail Online characterized the new laws as applying to one in four UK parents.
“Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: ‘We are going to drive away volunteers, we’ll see clubs and activities close down and we’ll end up with more bored young people on our streets,’” the paper added.
“Liberal Democrat spokesman Chris Huhne said: ‘We are in danger of creating a world in which we think every adult who approaches children means to do them harm. The creation of the world’s biggest checking system is a disproportionate response to the problem it is trying to solve.’”
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How long ’til we get that in the US?
If we put repubes back in power then it will happen.
We have it. I have to have fingerprints and background checks for my teaching. They claim that the records are destroyed after the check, but who knows?
Though I am of the radical Left, I don’t have a problem with background checks for those of us who work with kids. These activities attract pedophiles and the kids do really need protection.
What a stupid idea.
Conservatives whine about gov’t encroaching on private lives but they don’t blink an eye over instituting this kind of invasiveness.
I am a parent of three kids and of course their safety is first and foremost to me.
Hell, I’m even pretty overprotective at times. Much to their chagrin.
I’ve had a couple of huge scares with my younger kids… so I know what that feeling is that most parents dread and was fortunate that things turned out to be okay.
But I see more bad than good from this.
I also often see evidence of the far right trying to create sex criminals where they don’t exist.
Take for instance the case of young teens being charged with ‘childporn’ offenses for “sex-ting” …i.e., taking pics of themselves in suggestive poses.
I’m not saying parents should tolerate that sort of thing…of course not.
Of course we need to teach them to respect themselves. It’s new technology and kids being kids (following the influence of mass media …always pushing the boundaries) But these kids are being charged as adults and they’ll have to carry the stigma of being “sex criminals” for the rest of their lives…. for ‘exploiting themselves’. What were statutes created to prevent adults from exploiting kids are being used against kids as an enforcement of morality.
It’s up to parents to punish their kids for stupid behavior like that and not the gov’t.
There are other instances such as people arrested for nude sunbathing in the wrong areas or places where some forms of consexual sex are still illegal. There are even anti abortion groups right now trying to make sperm legally considered ‘personhood’.
The british can really have their heads up their asses sometimes by overreacting. They’ve made some forms of marijuana classified as ‘hard drugs’…they made repetitive music (i.e., techno music) illegal.
I’m not against a database of sex offenders per se…and even a dna database seems prudent.
But charging me 100 bucks so that I can drive my kids to school or let their friends sleep over is just way over the freakin line.
About 20 years ago I (then a 25 year old male) was walking down the sidewalk of a busy street in Derby, England. when I chanced upon a small girl, about 5 years old, who was screaming for her mommy, who was nowhere in sight. Everyone I could see was pointedly looking the other way. I put my arm out in front of a woman who was hurrying past and told her that I needed her to help me help the little girl. She asked what I needed her for and I told her that I was worried someone might get the wrong idea if I tried to help her by myself. She thought I was nuts, but together we quizzed the girl about where she had come from and led her back towards the supermarket where she had lost track of her parent. Two minutes later I was apprehended by the girl’s mother and a policeman, and the mother accused me of kidnapping her daughter. If I hadn’t thought to safeguard myself against just such an occurrence, I’d probably still be in jail today.
Speaking of Pedophilia.
Rawstory staff, have you had a chance to see this tape?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtTnizEnC1U&feature=related
ACORN was busted on tape soliciting aid for child trafficking, sex slavery, tax fraud, and other federal crimes.
How is this not ‘news’ but other links on your front page are considered worthy? Are you ignorant or are you willfully ignoring this?
I would like to see a Rawstory person do a story on this or at the very least just mention it. I thought you guys would be interested in corruption whether it comes from the right OR the left. Am I correct in that assumption? Because if you are just reporting stories friendly to the ‘left’ you’re basically being propagandists , and do nobody a service by that. In America we need TRUTH. If that makes any side of the proverbial ‘aisle’ look bad, than so be it.
Am I incorrect for thinking so? Tell me the flaw in my logic if so.
I just saw that crap video.
Alot of soundbytes taken out of context and part of it was an obvious setup by some rightwing dorks.
You’ll never get that turd to float.
Btw,… some of the ignorant and racist comments left by the anti Obama crowd pretty much prove our point about the rightwing’s attacks on both Obama and ACORN.
First of all, it appears that this story has been reported on, and it is the reason that ACORN has been removed from the 2010 census program. Second of all, it appears that one or more ACORN employees may have been acting inappropriately in offering the tax advice that they gave to the people posing as a prostitute and a pimp, and that the same “entrapment” scenario was repeated at several ACORN offices throughout the country, in an attempt by anti-ACORN activists to discredit the entire organization via the poor-judgment of less than a handful of workers. That being said, the type of “advice” offered by the ACORN employees is no different in intent and kind than advice offered to wealthy people and corporations with regard to tax loopholes and “cheating” on taxes. It is a crime to cheat on taxes, to not pay what you owe, and if it was a crime that was enforced equally on both the wealthy and everyone else, my guess is that you would find a larger percentage of the wealthy in prison than any other “class.”
I’m not saying that what these very few ACORN workers did was right, but I am saying that crimes of all sorts, whether they are white collar or blue collar or against people or property, are disproportionately punished and publicized. For every one of those ACORN employees who was “caught” offering illegal advice, there are dozens of Madoffs and Cunninghams and Abramoffs that haven’t been caught - YET. And their crimes have a much greater impact on you and me and everyone else.
overreacting the brits may be…but after generations of neglecting a significant problem, it may take this type of registry to deal with it
i see no prob with a national registry of all individuals who work with children…although the carpool think is a bit much
however, unless law enforcement follows up on this type of registry, it really means little
as we all saw here in california, where a filthy rapist was able to keep a sex slave for 18 years
i hope all cops and politicians also have to join that registry
And here I thought that WE were the only country STUPID enough to make that large a portion of it’s population into criminals. But obviously the rich Brits have seen how much money OUR rich scum bags are making on locking up millions of OUR people and want in as well.
The amount you are forced to cough up for this national screwing ends up being about $90. How many million people in Britain? That is a pretty sizeable chunk of change. And for those who don’t, the “fine” is about $7,000. An even larger chunk of change. And just think of how much they will make when they start fucking with those who refuse or don’t know that they are involved in this. A permanent record allows the cops to screw with you whenever they want and for whatever they want.
Wonder how many glory hungry cops they have there. I know we have literally tens of thousands like that. And anyone screwed with by this stupidity will have NOWHERE to turn. Anyone remember the cop back in the 60’s who was planting drugs on big name rock stars, including the Stones and the Beatles? I am willing to bet that the lure of busting “child molesters” will be too much for some of them to pass up, regardless of how many innocent people’s lives they have to destroy.
Britain will be sorry one day for bringing such a totalitarian, authoritarian state upon themselves. Or at least their citizens will. Those who are going to be raking in the cash wil be happy as pigs in shit.
what a filthy stinking pile of orwellian nazi SHIT!
Works every time We must protect the children to take away your rights. Camaras everywhere… Scary 1984 orwell in great britian..
Clearly the real purpose of this system is to get as many people as possible into a single tracking system. I find it stunning that the Brittish people are ok with this.
In the U.S., the Total Information Awareness project had to be “shut down” due to the outcry. In reality, of course, it likely just went covert, since our intelligence agencies operate with impunity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Awareness_Office
Coming to an Anglo-Empire near you.
Who will protect us from those that wish to ‘protect’ us?
The US is a bit harder of a nut to crack in this respect, but the trials are clearly seen playing out in the UK.
UncleJoeMcCarthy:
You are part of the problem, literally. Figuratively, you always have been.
Conflating an individual case of a non-childworker’s actions with the registering and fining of all people that come in contact with children, and then making the argument that the registry would somehow have prevented it, is a stunningly clear example of the cognitive decline in the US.
By your thinking . . . If only there were an agency that required you to pay $100 to register as a ‘cognitively challenged’ person, we could then check the list, see that you are on it, and then disregard any statements you make in the future.
Monumentally oppressive and profligate. British parents: good luck finding a baby sitter after this goes into effect. Take a walk around the block to reflect upon what your society has become and where it’s going. You’ll probably be on camera while you do it. Sad.
The power elite have to figure out a way to register every human being on earth. In the U.S., they started with the NAIS (National Animal Identification System) hoping to progress to tagging people. Visit nonais.org for a complete synopsis.
I guess the U.K. got wise and will start a program that involves children. Bayside1022 is right on the money with the comment “Works every time We must protect the children to take away your rights. Camaras everywhere… Scary 1984 orwell in great britian..”
Total and serious control is the name of the game here and will be achieved at any cost. Anyone not complying will be viewed as a criminal or social outcast. Make room under the bridges.