[Infowarrior] - Children could be monitored for signs of criminal behaviour

[Richard Forno]

Children could be monitored for signs of criminal behaviour
Last updated at 17:15pm on 27th March 2007

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=
444860&in_page_id=1770

All children could face compulsory checks to discover if they are at risk of
turning into criminals, the Prime Minister announced today.

The controversial proposal came as part of a wide-ranging review of crime
and security policy published by 10 Downing Street.

It said the checks could take place at existing important stages in a
child's life, such as the move from primary to secondary school.

The Government's plan to prevent crime said: "Establish universal checks
throughout a child's development to help service providers to identify those
most at risk of offending.

"These checks should piggyback on existing contact points such as the
transition to secondary schools."

The document did not outline at what age the checks should begin, nor did it
detail whether police or probation officers would be involved in the
process.

It was also unclear whether the check would involve a personal interview
with a child, or if it would simply comprise a review of school and police
records.

Other proposals set out in the policy review included:

€ Publishing efficiency data on the courts for the first time, with the
prospect of poor-performing courts facing measures to force improvements;
€ Extending the police's ability to seize non-cash assets from criminals,
such as plasma screen televisions, jewellery and laptop computers;
€ Encouraging businesses to make their products "crime proof", such as
introducing fingerprint activation on MP3 players such as iPods, because the
devices are partly behind a rise in street crime;
€ Placing restrictions on prolific criminals after they are released from
prison, which would lead to up to three years in jail if breached;
€ Immigrants coming to Britain temporarily could be asked to take out
"adequate health insurance" rather than using NHS resources;
€ Developing technology could also lead to the introduction of "crowd
scanners" able to detect bombs, and the use of "automatic facial
recognition" to spot criminals on CCTV images.

The review also appeared to advocate further expansion of the DNA database
when it suggested including "all suspected offenders who come into contact
with the police".

Currently anyone arrested for a recordable offence in England and Wales must
give a DNA sample - w