[Nettime-bold] the uk profiles children

[Ana Viseu <ana.viseu@utoronto.ca>]

[The UK is implementing a new database program that will be used to monitor 
(i.e., keep under surveillance) children who MAY become criminals. The idea 
is to 'identify' children that exhibit criminal potential (for example, 
answer back to an adult) and then keep an eye on them (with the help of 
something similar to squads composed of police and community workers). The 
police acknowledges that the database will contain sensitive information 
and that many of these children "have noy yet and probably will not 
actually drift into active criminality", but still thinks this is a good 
measure.

In practical terms what this means is that by the time they reach their 
voting age these citizens will have massive files stored in a police 
database. And since legislation in the UK regarding privacy is very lax, 
this is a dangerous measure... Ana]





http://www.wired.com/news/business/0%2C1367%2C48637%2C00.html

Keeping a Who's-Naughty List

By Julia Scheeres

Nov. 27, 2001

London police are planning to register children who exhibit criminal 
potential in an effort to prevent them from developing into full-fledged 
lawbreakers.

Kids who tag buildings with graffiti, skip school, or even talk back to 
adults run the risk of being entered into a database program that will be 
used to monitor their behavior as they grow up, according to police sources.

Law enforcement officials say the measure is needed to combat rampant 
juvenile crime, but critics condemn it as an extreme form of police profiling.

The plan was unveiled earlier this month in a speech by Ian Blair, London's 
deputy police commissioner, to the Youth Justice Board, the government 
agency that supervises Great Britain's juvenile justice system.

Teachers, social workers, health care professionals, law enforcement agents 
and other authorities who have contact with troublemakers will contribute 
information to the database program, which will be rolled out in 11 London 
boroughs before being implemented nationally, according to a copy of the 
speech. Special squads formed by police and community workers will 
supervise the actions and behavior of children included in the registry.

"With partners in those boroughs, we intend to create an intelligence 
nexus, which will hold sensitive information about large numbers of 
children, many of whom have not yet and probably will not actually drift 
into active criminality. This is pretty revolutionary stuff," Blair said.

The deputy police commissioner said the registry was needed to combat a 
jump in juvenile delinquency. While most crime indicators have dropped in 
Great Britain, street crimes committed by children have skyrocketed, 
according to government data. Between 50 and 75 percent of the muggings 
that occurred on London's streets in the first nine months of this year 
were perpetrated by minors, studies show.

Local authorities will use the database to identify underlying causes of 
children's bad behavior and recommend therapy or substance abuse treatment 
programs.

"In this process, we have every intention of using intensive surveillance 
and supervision programs," Blair said.

Asked for a comment on the program, a spokeswoman from the Youth Justice 
Board e-mailed the following statement to Wired News:

"The Youth Justice Board is supportive of the idea of increasing 
information sharing in respect of young people at risk of becoming involved 
in criminality, and we will be joining with the Met Police to look at ways 
this can be achieved."

A Metropolitan Police spokesman refused to discuss further details of the 
plan, saying it was still in an exploratory stage.

Privacy concerns aren't expected to derail the effort. In his speech, Blair 
said that Section 115 of the country's Crime and Disorder Act, which allows 
for disclosure of private information to investigate crimes, may override 
the Data Protection Act, which regulates information-sharing among 
government agencies.

But the director of Privacy International, Simon Davies, said the 
registries were tantamount to police "profiling gone mad."

"I shudder to think of the action that could be taken by authorities with 
such a database," Davies said. "All I can see coming out of this is greater 
criminalization of children and heightened discrimination against certain 
racial groups."




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Tudo vale a pena se a alma não é pequena.
http://fcis.oise.utoronto.ca/~aviseu

http://privacy.openflows.org
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