-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 31, 2007 10:00:36 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: "No Child Left Behind" in Blair's Orwellian UK
Every child to be screened
for risk of turning criminal
under Blair justice plan
· Police would demand DNA samples from all suspects
· Tories condemn strategy as 'nanny state gone mad'
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
The Guardian, March 28, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2044296,00.html
A new-style "11-plus" to assess the risk every child in Britain
runs of turning to crime was among a battery of proposals unveiled
in Tony Blair's crime plan yesterday.
The children of prisoners, problem drug users and others at high
risk of offending will also face being "actively managed" by social
services and youth justice workers. New technologies are to be used
to boost police detection rates while DNA samples are to be taken
from any crime suspect who comes into contact with the police.
The "early intervention" approach is part of a package of proposals
on security, crime and justice produced by Downing Street which
underline the scale of criminal justice reform Mr Blair believes is
still needed despite passing 53 law and order bills since he came
to power in 1997.
The shadow home secretary, David Davis, focused his criticism on
the extension of the DNA database to any crime suspect and the
early intervention plans for children. He described the proposal to
assess every child for risk of offending as the "nanny state gone
mad" while he said the Conservatives would have "great and grave
concerns" about any extension of the DNA database.
A Home Office spokeswoman said the universal checks on children
would look at factors including attainment at school, truancy
rates, and substance abuse.
A high-level review of the police that will not address the vexed
question of force mergers is also planned, as are an extension of
"summary justice" measures and tougher community punishments with
the creation of specialist new courts. The plan is sprinkled with
eye-catching initiatives such as MP3 music players that can be
accessed only with the owner's fingerprints, crowd scanners that
detect bombs and efficiency league tables for courts.
The crime package, agreed by the cabinet 12 days ago, came without
any time-table or costings and some proposals - such as "hybrid
prisons" to treat mentally ill offenders - are clearly labelled as
"for the long term". In some parts of Whitehall yesterday the plan
was described at best as "blue skies thinking" and at worst as
"undeliverable". Opposition MPs wasted no time in criticising it as
the PM's swansong after "10 years of failure".
But Mr Blair made clear yesterday that the pace of public service
reform in criminal justice needed to match that in health and
education. Despite some headlines suggesting the crime plan had
been designed to cut the record prison population of 80,000, the
105-page strategy paper talks only of "stabilising sentencing"
rather than cutting prisoner numbers.
"This is not an alternative to prison, it is in addition to
prison," said Mr Blair before highlighting a renewed drive to focus
on the 100,000 prolific "career criminals" responsible for the bulk
of crime.
Mr Blair also focused on a proposed new "prolific offender order"
under which several hundred "hardcore" career criminals would only
be released from prison under licence for the rest of their lives.
Those who breach the conditions of their licences - including a ban
on associating with known criminals - could face up to a further
three years in jail.
"These people have serious problems and targeting the offender
means taking those problems seriously. And we have proof that it
works," said Mr Blair.
But Home Office research published yesterday appeared to undermine
the claim, pointing out that although the results were encouraging
"no specific conclusions could be drawn" from an initial drop in
offending rates amongst 7,800 "career criminals" on the prolific
offender programme since 2004.
The measures in the plan aimed at tackling mental health and drug
problems among prisoners were widely welcomed yesterday, with the
Liberal Democrats claiming the prime minister had finally adopted
their policies.
The package leaves a question mark over the future of the Home
Office with a policy paper talking of the need for a "strong,
strategic centre" in government to provide the political leadership
to deal with the terrorist threat. But the announcement on
splitting John Reid's department into two separate ministries of
national security and justice has yet to be made.
The wide-ranging strategy document touches on questions of
immigration and asylum, raising the prospect of a review of the
impact of human rights legislation in this area and holding out the
possibility of a "duty to integrate" being imposed on new migrants.
Early intervention
· Vulnerable children and "those at risk of criminality", including
those whose parents are in prison and/or among the 300,000 problem
drug abusers, are to be "actively case managed" by Children's Trust
social services staff and youth justice workers from "the earliest
possible point".
· Universal checks on every child throughout his or her development
to help "service providers" identify those most at risk of
offending throughout their development, including at 11 when they
go to secondary school.
· Preventative programmes to tackle social exclusion, drugs and
alcohol abuse.
Detecting crime and enforcing the law
· New types of summary [police] powers, including a "criminal
benefit order" to seize the assets of offenders in low-value cases,
confiscate "lifestyle assets" such as jewellery, plasma TV screens
and laptops, and scrap the current 12-year time limit on asset
recovery cases. Expansion of existing "on-the-spot" fines to deal
with offenders without going to court.
· Greater use of new technology, including mobile fingerprint
readers for the police, crowd scanners that detect bomb-related
devices, developing fingerprint-only access MP3 players and
expanding the DNA database to all suspects who come into contact
with the police. The last proposals would bring hundreds of
thousands more people within the scope of the police DNA database.
Downing Street says it is also looking at more advanced forms of
CCTV, including systems that allow facial recognition of
individuals and can scan postal packages for explosive devices.
· Launch of a review of the police, headed by Sir Ronnie Flanagan,
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, looking into the
options for reducing bureaucracy, increasing local accountability
and spreading the use of neighbourhood policing teams.
Courts and sentencing
· In the face of a record 80,000 prison population the government
now says it wants to "stabilise sentencing" by making non-custodial
sentences more effective and to strengthen the effectiveness of
rehabilitation programmes in prison. In the long term "hybrid
prisons" will be set up to treat mentally ill offenders.
· The performance of the courts to be driven up by publishing
league tables of efficiency, "virtual courts" to be created using
video-link technology so defendants can be dealt with in police
stations, and community justice and specialist courts set up to
deal with those with mental health problems and others. Greater
involvement of voluntary organisations and charities. Also, the
introduction of "review courts" under which the same judge looks at
the progress of an offender after sentence.
· Step up the pace of workforce reform among court, probation and
prison staff with greater use of private sector competition, and
break down traditional demarcations.
Prolific Offenders
· A merger of the prolific offenders and drug intervention
programmes which are aimed at the 100,000 "career criminals" who
are responsible for half of all crime. A new "prolific offender
licence" which would see the 500 most prolific offenders placed on
licence when they are released from prison for the rest of their
lives. Conditions attached might include a ban on associating with
known criminals. This is a relaunch of the 2004 crime plan, which
led to the prolific offenders' programme. The government claimed
yesterday it had been a success because conviction rates of those
on the programme had fallen by 43%. But actual figures show that
the 7,800 offenders on the programme had been convicted of 55,000
offences in the 17 months before they went on the scheme and
convicted of 31,377 crimes after they started, hardly a ringing
endorsement of a flagship government programme.
Immigration and community cohesion
· Review the human rights laws to ensure they do not restrict
implementation of the government's asylum and immigration policies.
· Rigorously enforce the responsibilities of migrants in Britain,
including compulsory health insurance for visitors who come to the
country on work permits.
· The duty on new migrants to integrate into British society is to
be defined.
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