Children's charities ask Straw for action

Children's groups are asking the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, for guidelines to extend notification to communities of paedophiles in their midst.

Children's groups are asking the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, for guidelines to extend notification to communities of paedophiles in their midst.

The NSPCC, the Children's Society and ChildLine have joined in condemning "unmanaged naming and shaming" of convicted sex offenders, warning that it could have "dangerous consequences", but called for new rules "which clarify when and how the police and other agencies should inform communities about sex offenders who pose a serious risk to children".

They want Mr Straw to:

* Launch a campaign giving practical advice about the best ways to protect children from paedophiles in the community.

* Plug loopholes in the Sex Offenders Register so that people who commit child murder, move abroad or have offended abroad do not slip through the net.

* Cut the time that registered sex offenders have to notify authorities of their whereabouts from 14 days to 72 hours.

* Allow the courts to lock up repeat offenders for life.

* Extend the use of orders which keep convicted paedophiles away from children.

* Invest more in treatment programmes for offenders.

* Invest in child-protection teams to work with the police to uncover paedophile rings.

* Set up a network of services to stop children who sexually abuse other children from becoming adult paedophiles

* Appoint independent children's commissioners for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.