British government unveils new “criminal justice” proposals
As reported in the Times, this week the British government unveiled a new set of big brother/police state criminal justice proposals:
Every suspect in contact with the police faces having their DNA placed on a national database under government plans for a huge extension of “Big Brother” Britain announced yesterday.
All children will also undergo regular compulsory checks to discover if they are at risk of turning into criminals. They would face the crime test at key stages of their development, including when they start school and at 11.
The children of prisoners and Class A drug addicts would be “actively case managed” by youth offending teams in the crime strategy unveiled by 10 Downing Street .
The Government said the plan should “establish universal checks throughout a child’s development to help service providers to identify those most at risk of offending. “These checks should piggy-back on existing contact points such as the transition to secondary schools.”
It was not clear whether the check would involve an interview with a child, or if it would comprise a review of school and police records.
Ministers are also planning to allow police to take the DNA of suspects, to expand the use of scanning equipment to help to detect explosive devices in crowds, and to scan mail for drugs.
Useful commentary on these proposals include the following:
- UK Liberty. See also this article, linking these proposals to some earlier proposals reported by the Times and the Telegraph.
- Not Saussure
- Time Worstall
The proposals themselves can be found here. I intend to comment on them directly in due course.