ABSTRACT
The sex offender register has resulted in the accumulation of a great deal of personal information on such offenders being held by the police. The management of this information, its confidential nature and its exchange or disclosure has to be carried out according to legal and protocol standards. This chapter looks at these laws and protocols when the information is exchanged with other agencies (such as the probation service, Social Services/Children’s Departments or health care professionals) or disclosed to members of the public. The disclosure model from the USA of blanket community notification whereby any member of the public could find out where any sex offender lived was held out as the universal model. The UK instead opted for the more cautious selective model whereby information would only be disclosed on certain offenders and to certain recipients.
