Slashdot Mirror
British Cops To Create "Naughty Children" Database
An anonymous naughty reader writes: "The Telegraph is running this story about the British police setting up a secret database of children who misbehave or commit 'trivial misdemeanors' so that they can be tracked throughout their childhoods. Officials cited a rise in youth violence as necessitating these measures." You have to admire the forward-thinking of a secret police "database of children as young as three who they fear might grow up to become criminals."
Before all the Americans here start harping on about privacy and civil liberties, people should first discuss how our (British) culture is different to that of the United States. Britain already has one of the highest volumes of CCTV systems in Europe (stats were in the Guardian a few weeks ago if you want to check). We have come to accept the Big Brother mentality much more than our US counterparts, even though it does not always benefit us the way we would like it to (the Lawrence murder etc).
I don't know if many of you will be able to relate to this, but when I was a child I had the greatest respect for my elders and for the authorities/law enforcement. It seems that in today's "yob" culture, violence, underage drinking and anarchy are seen as ways of expressing how "hard" you are. This crew-cut sporting, Kappa wearing football hooligan image of thuggery is further idolised by sitting around empty bus stops vandalising public property while drinking Diamond White cider and smoking Mayfair (very cheap) cigarettes - It is seen as a fashion by many young people and actions which will gain them "respect" or credibility among their peers, much like the gang cultures in the USA.
I believe the monitoring of young offenders will be benficial - Anyone who has studied criminology or worked in/with the police should know the old phrase "once a scrote, always a scrote".
Crimes perpetrated by minors are on the rise (this is an undeniable fact). You only have to look at events like the Jamie Bulger killing to realise that our nation is sliding down the same slope as the US when it comes to atrocities commited by young people (Columbine killings to name one).
I don't see this database as a civil rights issue for the children. The database should be managed and controlled like the data in the PNC (Police National Computer) - with the greatest care and confidentiality.
Before anyone flames me with "what about the rights of the children", please first consider the rights of their victims and any others affected by their crimes.
In a former life, I worked for the Canadian federal Ministry responsible for policing, corrections and national security.
I am proud to say that I was able to have funding for such an initiative nixed on the grounds that such a DB becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I think the police force that proposed it went ahead with a binders-in-cars version anyway.
Most delinquent kids grow up to be decent citizens, IF you can keep them out of the criminal justice system until they grow up a bit and stop being such a pain in the a**.
This kind of hyper-surveillance is a BAD IDEA.
We could skip a step and just project the kids lifetime misdeeds and impose a sentence on them in advance. We could call this crime prevention or proactive incapacitation.
Sometimes cops are just too scary.