On creating a sex offenders’ register
The main aim of creating a sex offenders’ register, such as being proposed by the Commissioner for Children, seems to be that of preventing convicted sex offenders from being employed at workplaces where children are involved. In itself, this is of course a most recommendable measure. The problem is that a sex offender’s register would not be able to attain such an objective. Take the well-known MFA case. The employers knew that the prospective worker was a convicted sex offender, and yet they went on to employ him just the same. They even refused to send him away when the case was made public. In this case the employers were in possession of the workers’ propensity because they knew him personally. Alternatively, they could have acquired the same information from a register. This would not have prevented them from proceeding with the employment, and neither would it have obliged them to strike him off their books. It is clear that what is needed is not a register but an edict proh...