Home & Garden6 mins ago
CRB Checks To Be Eased
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16931352
That is a potential timebomb, surely? We hear enough stories about people who have slipped through the net. Paedophiles are the worst type of offender who prey on the most vulnerable and malleable members of society, our children.
That aside the potential for subsequent litigation is mind boggling. Surely a CRB check is far safer and cheaper than retrospectively paying out large sums in compensation?
And in this present society I can already imagine a scenario where a paedophile sues because he was put in a position of trust, succumbed to temptation and will argue it was the fault of the local authority who placed him in such a position without proper background checks being carried out!
That is a potential timebomb, surely? We hear enough stories about people who have slipped through the net. Paedophiles are the worst type of offender who prey on the most vulnerable and malleable members of society, our children.
That aside the potential for subsequent litigation is mind boggling. Surely a CRB check is far safer and cheaper than retrospectively paying out large sums in compensation?
And in this present society I can already imagine a scenario where a paedophile sues because he was put in a position of trust, succumbed to temptation and will argue it was the fault of the local authority who placed him in such a position without proper background checks being carried out!
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Hopefully the CRB will provide documentary evidence to the contrary Zeuhl and at the very least put my mind a little more at ease.
Coaches, refs, supply teachers, youth workers, they all move about, some from county to county. It's only right and proper they're cleared to work with children and the vulnerable.
Coaches, refs, supply teachers, youth workers, they all move about, some from county to county. It's only right and proper they're cleared to work with children and the vulnerable.
>>Slightly off-topic VHG. Shipman's (elderly, not children) vicitims.....
CRB checks are not just to protect chldren but any vulnerable people, including vulnerable adults and vulnerable elderly people.
But the point is, if you have no criminal record you could sail through a CRB check but have been abusing people for years if not decades.
In the Midlands at the moment we have a Roman Catholic priest who is accused of molesting boys in the 1970s and 1980s. He would probably have passed a CRB check any time up until he was arrested recently.
CRB checks are not just to protect chldren but any vulnerable people, including vulnerable adults and vulnerable elderly people.
But the point is, if you have no criminal record you could sail through a CRB check but have been abusing people for years if not decades.
In the Midlands at the moment we have a Roman Catholic priest who is accused of molesting boys in the 1970s and 1980s. He would probably have passed a CRB check any time up until he was arrested recently.
Lots of horrendous crimes happened in the 70's and 80's, unfortunately the mechanisms were not in place then to address and tackle such behaviour, which is why I'm all for ANY form of perceived bureaucracy put in place since that might protect children and the vulnerable.
It'll never be eradicated unfortunately but the more chance predatory paedophiles are given to circumvent safeguarding children the more they'll take it.
This current thinking by the government will only increase that opportunity.
It'll never be eradicated unfortunately but the more chance predatory paedophiles are given to circumvent safeguarding children the more they'll take it.
This current thinking by the government will only increase that opportunity.
<<those `authorised and cleared` might be a paedophile>>
<<Hopefully the CRB will provide documentary evidence to the contrary Zeuhl >>
No it won't!
Not if they've never been caught or convicted. And in a country where records are made available.
Sorry, but that is the sort of assumption that makes CRB checks so potentially dangerous.
<<Hopefully the CRB will provide documentary evidence to the contrary Zeuhl >>
No it won't!
Not if they've never been caught or convicted. And in a country where records are made available.
Sorry, but that is the sort of assumption that makes CRB checks so potentially dangerous.
and prove nothing
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So criminal records would not show previous character or the M.O. of an individual when carrying out certain crimes?
This is interesting:
http://www.w2wsolutio...ing-scheme-update/321
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So criminal records would not show previous character or the M.O. of an individual when carrying out certain crimes?
This is interesting:
http://www.w2wsolutio...ing-scheme-update/321
No chelle, my point is this:
Imagine the scenario. Someone has a job looking after children in care. They've been CRB checked and all came back fine. They subsequently committed a crime against one of the children. They lose their job and move away to another area of the country. A year or two later they apply for a similar post in the new area/location but neglect to give full details of their previous history. Someone in HR realises they've done similar work previously elsewhere and dispenses with the CRB as they're doubtless 'kosher'. That person re-offends in a similar manner.
It is exactly this sort of scenario that can potentially be borne out as a result of these proposed changes, as identified in the link:
But Lord Bichard warned "dangerous adults" would "take advantage" of the proposed changes.
Lord Bichard, whose report after the murder of Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by a school caretaker led to the present system being set up, warned the safety of children "must come before our desire to minimise regulation and bureaucracy".
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
What we are trying to do is create a system that will provide the necessary safeguards but does not make parents feel that their children are automatically safe”
Lord Henley Home Office minister
He said that "children assume that adults who are trusted to offer guidance or instruction can be trusted - not just in those limited circumstances such as the youth centre or playing field but wherever they are encountered".
"I fear that we will very quickly find that dangerous adults will realise that there are some settings and some ways in which it will be easier in future for them to gain access to vulnerable children," he told peers.
"The people we are talking about are manipulative and clever. They will take advantage of those opportunities."
Imagine the scenario. Someone has a job looking after children in care. They've been CRB checked and all came back fine. They subsequently committed a crime against one of the children. They lose their job and move away to another area of the country. A year or two later they apply for a similar post in the new area/location but neglect to give full details of their previous history. Someone in HR realises they've done similar work previously elsewhere and dispenses with the CRB as they're doubtless 'kosher'. That person re-offends in a similar manner.
It is exactly this sort of scenario that can potentially be borne out as a result of these proposed changes, as identified in the link:
But Lord Bichard warned "dangerous adults" would "take advantage" of the proposed changes.
Lord Bichard, whose report after the murder of Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by a school caretaker led to the present system being set up, warned the safety of children "must come before our desire to minimise regulation and bureaucracy".
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
What we are trying to do is create a system that will provide the necessary safeguards but does not make parents feel that their children are automatically safe”
Lord Henley Home Office minister
He said that "children assume that adults who are trusted to offer guidance or instruction can be trusted - not just in those limited circumstances such as the youth centre or playing field but wherever they are encountered".
"I fear that we will very quickly find that dangerous adults will realise that there are some settings and some ways in which it will be easier in future for them to gain access to vulnerable children," he told peers.
"The people we are talking about are manipulative and clever. They will take advantage of those opportunities."
<<So criminal records would not show previous character or the M.O. of an individual when carrying out certain crimes? >>
Harold Shipman's criminal record didn't show his <previous character or M.O.>> because he didn't have one!
The point is that the CRB system will never be able to show someone is not a risk simply because they have no previous record.
Therefore, any resources allocated to the CRB system need to take into account its inherent unreliability and acknowledge the continued need for additional vigilance and sensible precautions regardless of anyone's CRB status.
Harold Shipman's criminal record didn't show his <previous character or M.O.>> because he didn't have one!
The point is that the CRB system will never be able to show someone is not a risk simply because they have no previous record.
Therefore, any resources allocated to the CRB system need to take into account its inherent unreliability and acknowledge the continued need for additional vigilance and sensible precautions regardless of anyone's CRB status.
Therefore, any resources allocated to the CRB system need to take into account its inherent unreliability and acknowledge the continued need for additional vigilance and sensible precautions regardless of anyone's CRB status.
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So surely we should enhance it, not make (short)cuts to it?
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So surely we should enhance it, not make (short)cuts to it?
Or augment it with something different.
Checking people's existing records on a system is inherently flawed.
We could do personal interviews, references, polygraph tests - the problem with all of them is as we find in many gruesome crimes of the past.
Afterwards people say; i would never have thought it, he seemed such a nice bloke and had never been in any trouble.
Checking people's existing records on a system is inherently flawed.
We could do personal interviews, references, polygraph tests - the problem with all of them is as we find in many gruesome crimes of the past.
Afterwards people say; i would never have thought it, he seemed such a nice bloke and had never been in any trouble.
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