What would you do

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DrapedInDarkness

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Bear with me as this is one of those hot topics that some people hate.

Without going into details I am involved in local events and we allow new members to join us twice a year.

One of those new members came in and seemed like a really nice fellow, joined in as much as possible and helped out whenever he could.

But just over a month ago he confided in our chairman that he is on the sex offenders register for viewing images of children, the chairman and myself were asked to meet with the local police to discuss his disclosure as it turned out they had told him to disclose or give it up.

They confirmed that his offence was Level 1 images and that he had not committed any contact offences.

Whilst on the one hand I kind of admire him for telling us I am also torn with that fact I really should be hating him, now we are not a collection of kids (mainly in our 50-60's) but occasionally kids do asked to get involved which is why he had to disclose.

Now the chairman and I have to decide whether its best to keep him in the group or ask him to leave and face possible consequences of those actions, we are really struggling here so I would welcome any advice.

I am not breaking the law here as I have not disclosed any information that apparently cannot be found on the net anyway if you look. plus I have mentioned no names or situations
 
My money is on Line Dancing.
 
Paragraph #2 had me thinking of something else entirely.

If there were no kids 'occasioanlly involved' what would you do? Is this something from the past, or recent? What 'possible consequences' are you afraid of? Legal? Or Personal?
 
My thing is, what if he never told you. He would still be a member going about his normal daily routine and you would still treat him the same way you always have.

Maybe you could let him know its ok to stay but that you will keep an eye on things and see how they progress, give him the benefit of the doubt.

Everyone deserves a second chance (granted it would be different if he had actually done something to a young person but he hasn't)

Just my tuppence worth
 
I agree with Zeb, everyone deserves a chance. It seems like he's out trying to keep himself busy and do things. Assuming that your events are not likely to put children at risk with him being there.
 
but occasionally kids do asked to get involved which is why he had to disclose.

If kids are involved do you require CRB checks (which your new member would fail?)

If you didn't want him involved you could always use this as an excuse. Personally as a parent I would hit the roof if this information came to light and my children were attending. You may be opening up a can of worms by giving him a chance. No doubt front page fodder for the local rag.....

Difficult situation for you.
 
> Personally as a parent I would hit the roof if this information came to light and my children were attending.

What if it was disclosed prior to or at the joining? Is that an instant walk-away for people? I don't know, or want to, exactly what 'level 1' is - I assume it's the least-worst.
 
Paragraph #2 had me thinking of something else entirely.

If there were no kids 'occasioanlly involved' what would you do? Is this something from the past, or recent? What 'possible consequences' are you afraid of? Legal? Or Personal?

His offence is three years old and personally the consequences I worry about are that we turn our back on him and he goes on to commit further offences, I feel we are being asked to shoulder a very large burden, I'm not too worried about him around the kids based on what the police told us, the police actually seem to quite like him :confused:


My thing is, what if he never told you. He would still be a member going about his normal daily routine and you would still treat him the same way you always have.

Maybe you could let him know its ok to stay but that you will keep an eye on things and see how they progress, give him the benefit of the doubt.

Everyone deserves a second chance (granted it would be different if he had actually done something to a young person but he hasn't)

Just my tuppence worth

Yes, if I did not know I would of course still be treating him as I was, I am conscious of being a bit more formal with him than I was..now, our group is on hiatus so we have time to think, I want to give him a chance but I am just concerned if he commits an offence anyway would it still come down to us somehow?

I agree with Zeb, everyone deserves a chance. It seems like he's out trying to keep himself busy and do things. Assuming that your events are not likely to put children at risk with him being there.


I did think of that and it is something we have discussed, clearly he is looking to keep himself busy and that never can be a bad thing can it, the devil makes work for idle hands they say.

Thanks all, a bit more food for thought apart from the sarcastic mod, surprisingly :(
 
Although I deplore the offence, my inclination would be to keep him on.

He has declared (although I read that he might not have done had the police not insisted) so he should get that credit.

Also you are aware of the situation so can control what he gets involved with.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
From your description he seems like an asset, keen enthusiastic etc. You know his 'problem', so can easily avoid any conflicts while under your wing. You could take the view that while you have your eye on him, you know for that period of time he isn't 'elsewhere'.
 
Some of the questions I would be asking myself is. How did he get caught? Did he serve any prison time? Does he now live alone or is he married? Does he spend time with other convicted people? If I do keep him on and he abuses someone on the premises will I be held liable in some way?
 
If kids are involved do you require CRB checks (which your new member would fail?)

If you didn't want him involved you could always use this as an excuse. Personally as a parent I would hit the roof if this information came to light and my children were attending. You may be opening up a can of worms by giving him a chance. No doubt front page fodder for the local rag.....

Difficult situation for you.

No to CRB checks, the police were keen for him to be joining us and getting involved but felt we had to know, why they did this some months after he joined and not before :rolleyes:

> Personally as a parent I would hit the roof if this information came to light and my children were attending.

What if it was disclosed prior to or at the joining? Is that an instant walk-away for people? I don't know, or want to, exactly what 'level 1' is - I assume it's the least-worst.

Three months after joining, and I felt we needed to know what Level 1 was and yes it is the least worse offence, with clothed or nude images only, only.....cannot belive I just said that
 
> Personally as a parent I would hit the roof if this information came to light and my children were attending.

What if it was disclosed prior to or at the joining? Is that an instant walk-away for people? I don't know, or want to, exactly what 'level 1' is - I assume it's the least-worst.

For me yes. Can you imagine: "We'd love your kids to come along, however we do have a registered sex offender working for us voluntarily - his offense was related to child pornography....

Is that ok? I'm pretty sure he won't harm your kids and he doesn't do the photography for the club either"

Christ. You wouldn't see me for dust.
 
Some of the questions I would be asking myself is. How did he get caught? Did he serve any prison time? Does he now live alone or is he married? Does he spend time with other convicted people? If I do keep him on and he abuses someone on the premises will I be held liable in some way?

You must be in my head, We were not told how he got caught only that he was and pleaded guilty instantly saving us money...woohoo :rolleyes:

No prison time as its a "minor" offence but he is on the register form 5 years and had to attend a counselling course.

He lives with his parents and we have met them too, he is barred from having a computer and seems quite alone now, he readily admitted to having no sexual relations at all....ever :eek:

And your last paragraph is the one that worries me most :(
 
I assume the work he is now involved in is nothing to do with children?
 
Is that ok? I'm pretty sure he won't harm your kids and he doesn't do the photography for the club either"

I'm sorry but that did make me laugh :p
 
D in D - The parent's have a right to know. You must ensure they are told so they can make their own decisions. Some may be forgiving, I have a feeling most will not.

As I said before - a complete can of worms and once the press get wind of it you will be in for a hiding. Imagine "IF" something were to happen.

"We knew he had convictions for child pornography but felt he deserved another chance. I'm sorry he abused those children" etc etc

Perhaps a club where children are NOT involved may be a better interest for him.
 
ah so club for children.

Personally I wouldn't want a paedohphile handing around my kids, even if he's not supervising them...be lurking in the background.
 
For me yes. Can you imagine: "We'd love your kids to come along, however we do have a registered sex offender working for us voluntarily - his offense was related to child pornography....

Is that ok? I'm pretty sure he won't harm your kids and he doesn't do the photography for the club either"

Christ. You wouldn't see me for dust.

That's the thing though, you could choose to alienate the person, or you could chose to accept them back in to society and help them fit in again. God knows how hard it must be for them to re-integrate properly with that hanging over them. I'm not saying that what they did was acceptable or anything, but pushing them away from everything could lead to worse things.

I think it's all about making sure there is no risk involved while he is a member at the club - any time he is there he is with others and has no responsibilities in dealing with children.

It all depends what the club is.

It's a tricky one because if the members do take the kids along to something and don't know the story then later find out... that could be an issue.
 
D in D - The parent's have a right to know. You must ensure they are told so they can make their own decisions. Some may be forgiving, I have a feeling most will not.

As I said before - a complete can of worms and once the press get wind of it you will be in for a hiding. Imagine "IF" something were to happen.

"We knew he had convictions for child pornography but felt he deserved another chance. I'm sorry he abused those children" etc etc

Perhaps a club where children are NOT involved may be a better interest for him.

We are not a club for kids, maybe my explanation was not good, every so often we do something that may require 1-2 kids (12-16)

He never abused any kids or this would not be a discussion, and we had it very clearly emphasised to us that telling anybody in the group or local area exposes us legally
 
I say everyone deserves a second chance. Couldn't you carry on as things are but anything involved with children you keep him away if you feel you need to. The thing is his conviction is going back 3 years. From what I understand he hasn't repeated his actions.
Also would he ever be in a situation alone with children? If not I think you have very little to worry about.
I don't think parents deserve to know- you don't want to start a lynch mob.

Well done for coming here to ask- a lot of people would have closed the door on the fella straight away.
 
You said it was mainly 50-60 year olds with occasional involvement of children, that's probably as clear as you could make it without divulging exactly what :thumbsup: Maybe the middle ground is to make it clear he isn't to be involved when children are, and you expect him to be elsewhere.
 
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That's the thing though, you could choose to alienate the person, or you could chose to accept them back in to society and help them fit in again. God knows how hard it must be for them to re-integrate properly with that hanging over them. I'm not saying that what they did was acceptable or anything, but pushing them away from everything could lead to worse things.

I think it's all about making sure there is no risk involved while he is a member at the club - any time he is there he is with others and has no responsibilities in dealing with children.

It all depends what the club is.

It's a tricky one because if the members do take the kids along to something and don't know the story then later find out... that could be an issue.

Well for obvious reasons I cannot get into specifics, but basically it works like this, if we decide he can stay then either the chairmen or myself must always be present when he is, if neither of us attends for any reason he cannot attend, We were told that he is seen as almost zero risk which is why they were keen for him to be involved, but nearly zzero is not quite zero is it?
 
I say everyone deserves a second chance. Couldn't you carry on as things are but anything involved with children you keep him away if you feel you need to. The thing is his conviction is going back 3 years. From what I understand he hasn't repeated his actions.
Also would he ever be in a situation alone with children? If not I think you have very little to worry about.
I don't think parents deserve to know- you don't want to start a lynch mob.

Well done for coming here to ask- a lot of people would have closed the door on the fella straight away.

As I say the police seem to like him, his offence was three years ago with no repeat offending, and no, he would never be alone with any young people thats for sure, My big worry is the whole thing coming out and getting that lynch mob mentality, even though I know it was not a contact offence I still automatically think danger to children, does that make me a judgemental person?
 
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