The BBC reports that a court has ruled that “Blanket” use of the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) may not be compatible with Human Rights Act, and thus with human rights. The CRB was set up to create a single point at which those organisations with a child care duty such as schools, can check the criminal records of those they employ or permit to volunteer. This court case looks at the circumstances of an individual who committed acts when he was 11 that put him on the register. Unlike Denmark, as exposed in Borgen last week, the UK age of criminal responsibility is 10. Hard cases make poor law.
The article does not explore the growing ‘requirement’ by professional services employers without a child care duty to ask for both ask for both CRB reports and to ask for permission to pass these reports on to potential customers. More proof that if you create the database, it will be both hacked and judicially extended. …