MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
News Release issued by The Government News Network on 8 October 2007
New legislation
which will strengthen the protection to the public from sex
offenders and hate crime has been set out in proposals by the Government.
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Jack Straw
signalled in the House of Commons the Government's intention
to introduce amendments to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.
The new legislation will allow police, probation and prison
services to notify members of the public if a sex offender poses a
risk to children.
A further proposal will create a new offence which would extend
protection already provided for religious and racial groups to
gay, lesbian and bisexual people.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw said:
"It is a measure of how far we have come as a society in the
last 10 years that we are now appalled by hatred and invective
directed at people on the basis of their sexuality. It is time for
the law to recognise this."
Equalities Secretary Harriet Harman said,
"Fighting hatred, prejudice and discrimination will be at
the heart of everything this government does."
The new law would not prohibit criticism of gay, lesbian and
bisexual people, but it would protect them from incitement to
hatred against them because of their sexual orientation.
The amendment on sex offenders will put a legal duty on the MAPPA
(Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) agencies, which
include police, probation and prison services, to consider
disclosing information about convicted child sex offenders to
members of the public in all cases. The presumption will be that
the authorities will disclose information if they consider that an
offender presents a risk of serious harm to a child.
A further amendment will also allow the Government to make
changes to the information those on the sex offenders register
must provide to the police. This includes requiring offenders to
provide information about email addresses, new relationships with
any woman who has children, and if they are living in the same
house as someone under 18.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:
"We are committed to protecting children from sexual
predators and the proposals being laid out today will strengthen
that protection.
"Children are a unique and particularly vulnerable group, as
they are unable to protect themselves and are more easily
manipulated than adults. Sex offences against children cause
lasting harm, both to victims and their families.
"The UK already has the strongest restrictions on child sex
offenders and these proposals which follow on from the publication
of the Child Sex Offenders Review earlier this year will help us
to continue doing all we can to protect them."
The Justice Secretary has also indicated that the Government will
listen to views on whether the incitement offence should be
further extended to cover hatred against disabled and
transgendered people. The Government is ready to bring hatred
against disabled and transgendered people within the offence if a
case for this can be made.
He also said he wanted to review the law on self defence. He said;
"There can be no justice in a system which makes the victim
the criminal. So I want to look again at the law on self defence
to ensure the focus is right and that those who act
proportionately are not treated like criminals. My aim is to
complete the review in time to allow for this issue to be
addressed in this Bill."
Notes to Editors
1. The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill was published 26
June 2007 and is available at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/legislation.htm
2. The government's report Review of the protection of
children from sex offenders published on 13 June 2007, lists 20
actions that should be taken to strengthen laws protecting young
people from sexual predators.
Key points include:
* piloting a new process allowing parents and guardians to
request details of possible sex offenders
* requiring police and probation services to consider in each
case whether a child sex offenders' conviction should be
disclosed to protect children
* reviewing the use of satellite tracking to monitor high-risk
sex offenders
* developing the use of drug treatment to reduce sexual drive in offenders
* piloting compulsory polygraph tests for offenders
* requiring more information from those on the Sex
Offenders' Register - including email addresses, and
information about their relationships
* promoting community awareness campaigns to educate parents
about ways to protect their children from sexual predators
3. Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) support
the assessment and management of the most serious sexual and
violent offenders. The aim of MAPPA is to ensure that a risk
management plan drawn up for the most serious offenders'
benefits from the information, skills and resources provided by
the individual agencies being co-ordinated through MAPPA. MAPPA
were introduced in 2001 and bring together the Police, Probation
and Prison Services into what is known as the MAPPA Responsible Authority.