Posted on 11/25/2001 1:24:43 PM PST by Servant of the Nine
THE police are to set up a secret database of children as young as three who they fear might grow up to become criminals.
Youngsters who behave badly or commit trivial misdemeanours will be put on the confidential register so that they can be monitored and supervised throughout childhood.
The controversial initiative is to be pioneered in 11 London boroughs from March and then expanded nationally. Any child who is thought to be at risk of committing a crime by the police, schools or social services, will be put on the database.
Children involved in cheekiness, minor vandalism and causing nuisances, will be targeted under the scheme.
Their progress will then be monitored at school and on the streets by special squads of police officers and social workers, even though the children have not committed a crime and will not have been warned that they are being watched.
Ian Blair, the deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said that the register was needed because of a rise in youngsters turning to violent crime.
The plan grew out of the Damilola Taylor murder investigation on a grim council estate in south London last year. There detectives came across dozens of wild and unruly children who - outside the scope of the present law - were in danger of becoming criminals.
Mr Blair said: "We have identified 11 London boroughs where youth crime is growing most significantly.
"With partners in those boroughs, we intend to create an intelligence nexus which will hold sensitive information about large numbers of children, many of whom have not yet and probably will not drift into criminal activity."
He admitted: "This is pretty revolutionary stuff. There will be lots of worries but as long as it is understood that the purpose of holding this information is to ensure that we should collectively intervene to prevent children from becoming criminal I think that it will be accepted."
He said that schools and social services already had information about young children in danger of becoming criminals but at the moment they did not share this with the police.
He said that the scheme had been inspired by the murder of Damilola, 10, in Southwark. Several youngsters have now been charged with his murder.
Mr Blair said: "With no specific or necessary connection to the individuals charged, the inquiry team found that in some parts of Southwark there was a feeding chain leading to rampant criminality, a mixture of abuse, victimisation and criminality.
"Children who had, Fagin-like, been coerced and taught to steal, children who rose to prominence within their peer group by dint of theft and violence.
"It is not an exaggeration to note that, for some of these children, street gangs provided a safer and more caring environment than their homes or classrooms."
Mr Blair, who has unveiled his plans to the Government's Youth Justice Board, said the inquiry team found evidence of children who had been abused at home and who were subject to bullying and muggings at school and close to home.
He said it had always been thought improper to share information but it was now essential because this could sometimes prevent crimes being committed against children.
He added: "We are aware of examples from within London where caring professionals have been told in confidence by children that they have been victims of quite serious crimes."
The proposal is being examined by Elizabeth France, the Information Commissioner, but the police are confident that it will not breach existing laws. Last night, Liberty, the organisation that campaigns for civil liberties, expressed concern about the plan.
Roger Bingham, the Liberty spokesman, said: "We have a number of concerns about the proposals. For a start, what kind of behaviour will result in being put on this register?
"Who will have access to it, and who will decide whether children go on it or come off it? The aims of the idea might be to reduce crime but there are serious libertarian worries."
Me too. It's almost funny until you remember the people who are coming up with this stuff. They think nothing of having a government database keeping records on childhood "cheekiness" but would probably want to throw parents in prison if they spanked their kids for the same.
This is just the first step.
Next, it will be expanded to include kids who supposedly have "ADD" or other "mental disorders".
Then, it will expand to include kids from homes with "religious extremists" (i.e., Christians) in them.
After that, they'll list the kids who show any independent thought whatsoever. Question authority? Get on the "list". Complete your assignments too quickly? On the "list". Attempt to excel at sports by cutting class to practice in the gym? On the "list".
Of course, by that time, anyone on the list be required to be drugged and electronically monitored 24 hours a day. Those who resist this step will go off to jail. I give it 10 years.
And there isn't a damned thing they Brits can do about it since the so sheepishly and cowardly surrendered their right to self-defense and right to keep guns.
There is no such thing. A lot of these guys end up being Darwin Award contenders or even winners!
Nit-picking time!
In 1689, as part of the Glorious Revolution which kicked the Stuart family off the English throne, the Parliament passed and William III (of Orange, the new King) signed, a Bill of Rights. It detailed past abuses and instituted new mechanisms to prevent the Crown from becoming tyrannical.
It is beyond question that the Founders had this Bill in mind as a precedent when they came up with out first 10 Constitutional Amendments.
This whole idea is totally stupid. A student that was mad at another student could call the anonymous phone hotline, report that his schoolyard rival was planning a shooting spree, and then sit back and laugh when the kid gets yanked out of class, arrested, interrogated, and put under surveillance for the rest of his life.
And who will watch after the secret police, which is what the school administration will become? A teacher that has something personal against a kid (think it can't happen?) could make him a target of the secret police for the rest of his life. Is it fair for somebody to fail a background check because they were the school prankster at the age of 8?
Ha! Wait until they can determine your potential for causing trouble from your DNA. They'll abort you. You'll never make it out of the womb!
Schools are not allowed to 'discipline' the students because they might get slapped with a law suit.
It would not surprise me.
At every level of government, there are a large number of parasites that have no regard for either the law or for our Freedom.
I do expect that will encouter a lot of "difficulty", however, when and if they ever resort to forced drugging or internment.
If they ever cross the line, there are a lot of people who will discover that being an emeny of the Constitution is a very dangerous game, and not one they are likely to prevail at.
Or, more accurately, "conservatives".
Maybe they'll be asking us to help them with a revolution next time around??
Sedley summarized his views on the value of a bill of rights for Britain ... "There is a dramatic need to match recognition of modern public rights -- to a safe environment, to food and shelter -- with a fresh paradigm of state with enforceable duties to protect people, and of a new generation of civil rights enforceable against bodies both public and private which invade them."
Doesn't sound like Freedom of Speech, Religion, Press, etc. Sounds more touchy-feely. Like all those people who talk about a "right" to housing, medical care, education, etc.
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