New Anti-Paedophile Laws Considered in UK

by expatbrit 4 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

  • expatbrit
    expatbrit

    Here is an interesting article from the BBC, regarding the two missing young girls from Cambridgeshire.

    The proposed laws would make it illegal for sex offenders to contact children to exploit them. It is targetted mostly at chat rooms and text messaging. However, it could have relevance to JW paedophiles contacting children in field service too.

    Perhaps it would be an idea for our UK posters to contact some of the child agencies mentioned in the article and inform them of the JW problem? Particularly since, thanks to WT policy, JW paedophiles can go straight to face-to-face contact with children without having to go through the chatroom and text messaging stages.

    I've bolded some parts of the article.

    Expatbrit

    New anti-paedophile laws considered Missing girls Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells The missing girls went online but not to a chatroom New legislation is being considered by the government to protect children from paedophiles who try to contact them in person, on the phone or via the internet.

    The proposals would prevent sex offenders making contact with children to exploit them.

    It follows the disappearance of 10-year-old Cambridgeshire schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, whom police believe have been abducted.


    Once contact is made in a chatroom, it escalates very quickly to a mobile phone, text messaging and eventually, face-to-face contact
    Chris Atkins, NSPCC
    It is known the girls were using the internet an hour before they went missing.

    Police have revealed that a computer used by the girls contains a "wealth of information", but it is now known they had not been in a chatroom shortly before they disappeared.

    The increasing use of internet chatrooms has led to paedophiles going online to "groom" or build up a relationship with children with a view to meeting them in person.

    Chris Atkins from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) said: "Modern technology means once contact is made in a chat room, it escalates very quickly to a mobile phone, text messaging and eventually, face-to-face contact.

    Sexual Offences Bill

    "This is why we need the government proposals."

    Home Secretary David Blunkett has acknowledged that legislation is needed in the next session of parliament and it is expected that a Sexual Offences Bill will be included in the Queen's Speech.

    The government has long been concerned about the growing threat of internet paedophiles who target children via the net.

    The Home Office said it is looking at a range of measures to tackle paedophiles who use the internet to groom youngsters.

    This would make it illegal to contact children with "harmful intent".

    'Catch-all' offence

    Such laws would also cover telephone calls, text messaging and attempting to befriend youngsters outside school gates.

    A new paedophile "catch-all" offence could be introduced to simplify the law and replace seven separate offences.

    There would also be a new civil protection order aimed at preventing sex offenders contacting particular children.

    Breach of an order would carry a jail term of up to five years.

    A government task force on child protection on the internet, originally set up in March last year, is due to present its recommendations to ministers after MPs return to Westminster in the autumn.

    Holly and Jessica Holly and Jessica had used the internet
    John Carr, a policy adviser to the National Children's Society who sat on that task force, said the powers currently available to the police were inadequate to prevent paedophiles making contact with children.

    However, he warned that any new legislation must strike a balance with civil liberties.

    "We want to strengthen the position of the police to take action," he told The Times.

    "We certainly don't want to criminalise someone going through a mid-life crisis and using the internet to pretend he is 20 years younger."

  • Simon
    Simon

    I'm not sure about this one purely from a point of view of how practical it would be to police and prosecute.

    Britain seems very keen at the moment on bringing in new laws, many of which are never effected because they don't work in practice.

    What I think is needed is tougher sentances when people are caught and convicted - none of this 'let them go because they behave well' crap. Lock them up and throw away the key literally.

    I believe the majority of people would like to see the death penalty as an option for child abuse / murder cases.

    However, the current system in the UK of "find the local strange guy and claim he did it" needs to be abandoned. We need proper investigation and safe conviction.

  • ISP
    ISP

    In this case, as far as I am aware, the police have accessed the girls pc and found no evidence of chatroom activity. This a threat of course but it may miss the point. A large amount of paedophilic activity is committed by people known to be paedophiles by the authorities. They tend to get small sentences and are not dealt with properly.

    ISP

  • LovesDubs
    LovesDubs

    They would have to be CONVICTED first wouldnt they? The WT in their effort to appear to be VIRGINAL...dont turn the bloody PERPS IN!!

  • expatbrit
    expatbrit

    The WT in their effort to appear to be VIRGINAL...dont turn the bloody PERPS IN!!

    Quite true. However this is just one aspect of the problem, as I see it. Another is that even when a JW is convicted and subsequently released and reinstated, the WT sends that person to people's doors, despite evidence that paedophiles are largely irreformable.

    Expatbrit

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