You'd never know by looking at him that 10 year-old Daryl could cause so much trouble. But by the age of five the pint-sized boy with a dreamy stare had already been expelled from his primary school. Regular bouts of punching children and teachers, biting dinner ladies and swearing at all and sundry had seen to that. Five years on, despite on-going doses of medication, things aren't much better. Young Daryl frequently fights with other children, has threatened to stab his younger sister with a pair of scissors and is well known to local police. Perhaps fortunately for Daryl he lives in Dudley near Birmingham, had it been London he might soon have found his name on a controversial new police database for children.
This week the Metropolitan Police in London are finalising plans for the new database which may include the names of toddlers as young as three years old. It's the brainchild of the Met's deputy commissioner, Ian Blair, who says it's inspired by the tragic death of Damilola Taylor last year, as well as the need to curb the "tidal wave" of crime now being committed by juveniles. The list, which is scheduled to become operational this spring, will include the names of children with severe and persistent behavioural problems. The idea is that unless they are stopped, these youngsters could be the criminals of tomorrow.
Terri Moffitt, professor of social development has spent 20 years studying children like Daryl with severe behavioural problems. She says there's a wealth of evidence to support the idea that toddlers in big trouble often go on to become adults in even bigger trouble. Long-term research projects in England, Canada and New Zealand have followed the progress of such children from as young as eighteen months until they are in their thirties. The results make grim reading. Take the study carried out in the city of Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island. Half of all children there who were displaying severe behavioural problems at three-years-of-age fell foul of the law by the time they were twenty. Most of the other half were described as "inadequates", who never got married, rarely had a job and continued to live with their parents well into their thirties. This five per cent of the population accounted for fifty per cent of all local crime and sixty per cent of all local crimes of violence.
Child analyst, Dr Steven Scott, who runs a specialist clinic for anti-social behaviour at the Maudsley Hospital in South London, says the earlier such children are treated the better. He says that if severe behavioural problems are not dealt with when a child is young the pattern becomes hard to break. Some teenagers, he says, can be almost impossible to reach later. Some parents attending his clinic spoke of being attacked by their children with knives, others revealed how years of violence, frustration or panic had come close to destroying their families. Most were appalled by the idea that their children's names could find their way onto a police database, because this could lead to them being stigmatised and picked on. Dr Scott later admitted that most parents coming to the group had voiced fears that their children might end up in jail as adults.
For the police database to work it will need the co-operation of social workers and head teachers. But some heads told this programme that they would be reluctant to give information on problem pupils. Judith Elderkin, head teacher of Marlborough Road Primary School in Salford who is also a magistrate, told us that she fears that the list could prove counter-productive. The database, she says, could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. A child who is labeled a latent criminal may, she insists, feel obliged to become one.
We asked the Metropolitan Police for more information on how they plan to run and compile the database. They declined to provide a spokesperson. Instead, they gave us this statement.
"The Met is committed to tackling youth offending in London and recognises the need to actively explore innovative options with our partners and it would be unhelpful for us to speculate as to how this would work in practice at this early stage."
The force is to discuss the data protection issues involved in drawing up their list with the Information Commissioner, Elizabeth France, this week. She will want to know answers to questions such as; what sort of behaviour would be considered bad enough to get a child on the list? How would such information be used? Who would have access to the details and how long would they be kept on file?
If she gets the right answers and the database does go ahead this spring it's thought likely that it could be adopted nationwide. So, is young Daryl quaking in his boots at the thought that one day his name could find itself onto such a list?
"No, I'm not scared." He told me.
Would it change your behaviour knowing that your name was on such a list?
"No, it wouldn't. Not at all."
