This paedophilia panic is undermining our schools

I am a potential paedophile; a sex offender. The time has come to tell my shocking tale. Some years ago, walking with friends in a city park, I felt the need to answer the call of nature. However, the public toilets were closed owing to vandalism. In acute discomfort, I relieved myself discreetly in nearby bushes. [...]

You can laugh. But right now thousands of public-sector workers who have committed trivial offences, or indeed no offence at all, are living in fear of their very livelihoods. Tomorrow, the education secretary, Ruth Kelly - under pain of losing her own job - is expected to rule that everyone on a sex offenders' list in England and Wales should be barred from working with children, whether they have actually committed a child sex offence or not. Doesn't matter if they've been rehabilitated, have "spent" convictions or just been the victim of ugly rumour. To be on the safe side, they would be out.

There is acute pressure on Jack McConnell to follow suit in Scotland. But, look, why take the risk? If I were a parent, wouldn't I want to be absolutely sure that my children couldn't be taught by sex offenders? Wouldn't I want my kiddies to be protected from pervs? Well, I am a parent, as it happens, and I do want my children to be protected. However, of the 2000 recorded sexual attacks on children last year, not one took place in school. The vast majority of sex offences on children take place in the family home by parents, relatives or by trusted friends. The lesson surely is clear: children need to be protected from their families. If we really want them to be out of the reach of paedophiles, children need to be taken from their homes and placed in secure units supervised by properly-vetted, state-registered guardians.

source: Article 'This paedophilia panic is undermining our schools' by Iain Macwhirter; www.theherald.co.uk/features/54465.html; The Herald; 18 January 2006