The treatment of sex offenders on licence in the UK

[T]he treatment of sex offenders on licence in the UK appears to be a step on the road to "homo sacer" status. The licence is determined in secret by the Parole Board, not by a judge in open court, and the conditions are often only tangentially related to the original offence. It can last for many years and restricts a person’s life to a degree unimaginable to most people.

To give a real example, someone convicted of a downloading offence would be banned from public facilities such as leisure centres and parks; banned from possession of a camera; banned from using a computer or a smartphone; banned from working with children, working anywhere near a computer or working in a job that involved contact with the general public; banned from voluntary work; given such restrictions on an adult sexual relationship as to make one impossible for the other adult… leaving very little of a normal life. There is no appeal against such a licence. The "homo sacer" effect is that such a person would be sent to prison, usually for several years and without a judge or court being involved, for engaging in harmless activities that are legal for the rest of the population.

And then, of course, there is the upcoming Sexual Risk Order, which will allow similar restrictions to be applied to any of us without a conviction. All that is necessary is for the police to believe that someone poses any degree of risk of sexual harm to children; they can then apply to a court for an Order to be applied, with any conditions of restriction the police deem necessary and a length of five years to life.

source: Reaction by Jane Smith under article 'Paedophiles to be treated like terrorists'; tomocarroll.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/paedophiles-to-be-treated-like-terrorists/#comments; Heretic TOC; Reaction: 5 May 2014