More Unrealistic Expectations

I was going to write a few thoughts down regarding the aftermath of the riots. I am concerned that the Government seem to be happy to allow the Courts to wave the stick and there is a distinct lack of discussion on the policy changes required to reverse the mess we are in. I loathe the disgusting Daily Mail and I don't always agree with him, but Peter Hitchens has said it all for me here.

Ashleigh Hall - befriended a sex offender, Peter Chapman, on Facebook and was subsequently murdered by him.

On another note, this story caught my eye. It is a tragedy that 17 year old Ashleigh Hall was murdered by Peter Chapman a known sex offender. Ashleigh's mother has decided that she is going to sue four police forces who should have been monitoring Chapman. I don't know if these forces failed to carry out basic monitoring of Chapman but to suggest that supervising sex offenders in the community will stop then re offending is like suggesting that having a chat once a week with a drug addict will stop them taking drugs.

There are thousands of registered sex offenders and they are supposed to notify the police where they are living and meet with police supervisors regularly to discuss what they are doing and to try and establish if they are a risk to anyone. I am aware of one case where a sex offender has refused access to the police and the courts have agreed that it is an infringement of his human rights to have the police calling at his home. He refuses to go to a police station and so his supervising officer meets him once a week in his car in a street, 2 miles from his home. How this can have any influence on his offending I don't know.

If you want to eliminate the risk of sex offenders re offending keep them behind bars until you are sure and then we won't have to worry about ridiculous monitoring in the community, which is designed to empty the prisons and give the public confidence, but in reality achieves almost nothing.

PS. I see the former Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith has had the painters in again. Does this mean we can expect another invoice for her husbands porn?