Megan's\Sarah's Law

21/06/2006

The debate over Megan's Law is important because it highlights the difficulty in dealing with serial, predatory paedophiles. We currently have no way to cure or even curb these paedophiles and they are being released into the community and they are reoffending. Officials have information about these particularly dangerous individuals, but the public does not, even though the paedophiles are being housed in their neighbourhoods. Until such time that these conditions change, I see the value in limited information being made available to people in areas when one of these serial paedophiles is released to live amongst them. Sarah's Law, as it would be called in the UK, could work by allowing people to go to the police station and register before getting information. I do not see that it is necessary to give addresses, but to explain that the paedophile is 'living nearby' and that parents should be especially diligent. That way the police would have record of who asked to deter vigilante attacks and the police would warn about the consequences of prosecution if an attack takes place. Keep in mind that we have already had these vigilante attacks even WITHOUT Sarah's Law. Alternately, there could be a general warning given to the local population about the release of someone like Craig Sweeny. If the family of his three year old victim had known about him, he might not have been able to get close enough to snatch her and thus the terrible abuse she suffered would have been prevented.

To the argument that there are paedophiles around that we do not know about and that most children are abused by people known to them in some way, that is, of course, true. But the level of threat from predatory paedophiles to all children they come into contact with is so great, that we have an obligation to inform. The best solution, however, to the entire debacle, is to impose indeterminate sentences upon people like Craig Sweeny - that would go a long way to protecting children and to restoring public confidence. That is….unless politicians and courts feel enough confident in our laws about sentencing that they allow these dangerous paedophiles to be housed right next to them.

The bottom line is that there is no fool proof system of keeping children safe from paedophiles because we do not know the identities of all of them. Until we can find a cure, we need to use every resource we can to ensure the safety of as many children as possible. For the moment this includes, in my opinion, Sarah's Law.

Michele Elliott, Kidscape Director

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