Thursday June 07, 2007
Jim Gamble talks about the sentencing of offenders
Having read some of the informed and ill-informed comments in response to an interview which I gave last week I would like to make my position crystal clear.
Child sex abuse is a horrific crime. No one would ever go soft on that. No one would ever want to step back from bringing the offenders to account. I haven’t and certainly never would.
We are about delivering a very real and active deterrent. A deterrent that spans the entire spectrum of behaviour – from those who have thoughts about abusing to those who have played out their deviant desires and viewed images, or attacked our children.
But as well as bringing offenders to justice, CEOP works to protect children by preventing offences from occurring in the first place. Credible experts tell us that some people who have thoughts of a sexual nature but haven’t as yet offended can be diverted from committing any act in the first place. We have to take this on board. Ignoring this advice, ignoring this opportunity and letting offenders take action would be to fail our children woefully and end with more being abused, not less.
So my message to those considering offending against children remains the same: get help before you offend, before your thoughts become actions.
But that is as far as it goes. Offend and you will be tracked, you will be investigated, you will be arrested and made to face up to the full consequences of your actions. Does that include those who view images? Of course it does. I have always maintained that child abuse images are anything but 'pornographic'. They are crime scenes where children have been violated and exploited; every day the staff in the CEOP centre work to identify, locate and safeguard those victims. I have never said anything otherwise.
In the majority of cases, prison is the answer. But it is a fact, however unpalatable, that not every offender goes to prison and prison sentences do come to an end. We and by 'we' I mean those who work in this area day after day, see a diversity of offending behaviour, not all of which conforms to the traditional 'paedophile' label. But that doesn’t mean that we let the offender walk from the police station with a slap on the wrist or leave prison and never be seen again. After all, the child is never free of the consequences.
It means putting all perpetrators on the sex offenders register, making sure that the right people end up behind bars and ultimately guaranteeing that all offenders have whatever risk they may pose managed and mitigated in a controlled and effective way. After all if I have learnt nothing more during my first year - a year that has seen us ruthlessly tracking offenders, dismantling paedophile rings and rescuing children from direct abuse - it is that my role is to deliver child protection using every legitimate means or tactic available to me. I intend to continue to do just that.
Jim Gamble
CEOP Chief Executive