News In Focus
15 December 2006
Limited disclosure proposed
Sex offenders released from prison won't be routinely identified to their local community, but those breaching their conditions of release could be named on the internet or sent back to prison.
A cross-party sub-committee of MSPs has backed recommendations in a report which proposes giving police the right to search reigstered sex offenders' homes without a warrant if they are worred about the risk to children.
However, the campaign for a "Mark's Law" from Margaret Ann Cummings whose eight-year-old son Mark was killed in 2004 by a sex offender living in the same block of flats in Glasgow has been unsuccessful as MSPs have not recommended this be put in place.
The group's convener Jackie Baillie said they were looking for the disclosure of details of high-risk sex offenders who failed to co-operate with the authorities. These details would be provided to the local community and made available on the internet.
She added that the evidence presented to the sub-committee had convinced members that a blanket release of offenders' information would not benefit the public and would be counter-productive to the efective monitoring and supervision of sex offenders.