“Teachers,
doctors and social workers who fail to report concerns over suspected cases of
child abuse should face criminal charges, one of Britain’s most senior barristers
has said”. That is the opening paragraph
quoting the words of Keir Starmer in today`s Independent.
Keir Starmer was until very recently England`s top prosecutor. It never ceases to surprise me how often
people in powerful positions wait until they`ve moved on before making controversial
policy statements.
The
three classes of professionals quoted, one would hope, have the personal and
professional integrity in addition to any contract to blow the whistle when events
appear to justify it. I could be
described as uninformed on this topic just as most of my fellow citizens are
but it would seem that there is a legal framework already in place which would justify those
with responsibility directly or indirectly who shirk, ignore or abuse that
responsibility being charged with a criminal offence. If such terms were part of employment
contracts for those who could conceivably bear some responsibility for any
malpractice no additional legislation would be required. In addition if Mr Starmer`s argument leads to
legislation it will surely cause more problems than it would solve. Ever more people would be brought within its
net however innocent they were. The Old
Bailey trial which is headline news is an example of where existing legislation
albeit applied after far too long a delay shows that further curbs on news
media via a Royal Charter are totally unnecessary. We have enough legislation to detect and
punish paedophiles if it were applied efficiently and consistently. What we
don`t need is a witch hunt.
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