BY PAUL DAVIES
MANCHESTER, England - The British government is pressing ahead with a range of measures to restrict democratic rights, including the establishment of a National Sex Offenders Register. Guidelines for using this register were drawn up in collaboration with the Association of Chief Police Officers, and include giving police the power to selectively release the names and addresses of those on the list to public organizations and communities where former prisoners are now living. The list will in large part comprise of those who have been convicted of rape and child sex abuse, but it will also include "indecency" between men and the possession of indecent photographs of children. Anyone who has been jailed for these offenses for more than two and a half years will be placed on the register for their entire lives. They must also report to the cops every time they move to a different home.

Initially 6,000 names will be placed on the register, with an estimated 3,500 being added every year. The Home Office says that 110,000 people in England and Wales have been convicted of sex offenses.

This step comes after similar legislation was adopted in the United States, known as "Megan's Law," that requires neighbors, schools, and other institutions to be notified when anyone convicted of a sex offense moves into the area.

Several recent incidents in this country illustrate the impact these laws can have. In Sterling the local media published the name of a man undergoing a sex offenders treatment program and he was besieged at the hostel where he lived by a crowd of people. The police eventually drove him to a secret location. In Birmingham a local council housing officer informed residents that a convicted sex offender was moving into the area, and the person had to be moved at a secret location after local protests. In Middlesbrough the local council has announced that it will deny convicted sex offenders the right to accommodation on council housing estates.

Announcing the guidelines on disclosure of information from the National Sex Offenders Register, government minister Alun Michael said nothing of these incidents, but acknowledged that the general release of information has led to vigilantes attacks on individuals wrongly named as pedophiles. He stated that the "general release of information has big dangers," but "we are not talking about automatic notification of the local community." An article in the Manchester Guardian describing the measures adopted by the British government bore the title, "Pedophile guidelines expected to end `outing.'"

What Michael described as a "graded response," however, gives the police the power to choose when to release names on the register to schools, local child protection agencies, and communities.

It will also be tied to new legislation making it a crime for a convicted sex offender to seek work with children, and allow employers more powers to dig into the background of job applicants. In effect the laws impose a second sentence, without the right to a trial or a jury, after that handed down by the court.

Giving the police the powers to maintain the list also gives them the opportunity to pull in and question those previously convicted when a new crime occurs in the area where they are living.

The courts have also been using allegations of child abuse to undermine the right to the presumption of innocence. In Orkney in September 1996 two children were adopted against their mother's wishes following allegations of child abuse that were never proven.

The establishment of the National Sex Offenders Register comes as the government plans additional attacks on democratic rights in the name of combating crime. The Home Secretary announced that courts will be able to add bans on driving licenses and the withdrawal of passports to those who are convicted of a crime and receive "community sentences."

Parliament will also discuss plans to extend house arrest curfews - enforced by electronic tagging - to juveniles, fine defaulters, petty offenders, and those on bail. Just as the national sex offenders register gives the police the powers to publicly name those convicted of rape and child abuse, so the government is also proposing to give the courts the right to "name and shame" those convicted of juvenile offenses.

Debbie Delange in Manchester contributed to this article.  
 
 
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