I will never forget a Mumsnetter who came on here about a year ago, telling us of the day she found out that the teenage neighbour she had been using as a babysitter had been interfering with her 3 year old daughter. This was a trusted lad, a friend who lived with his family just down the road. The Mumsnetter decided not to press charges to protect her daughter from any more stress, understandably she was anxious that her daughter be allowed to forget all about it. But she did tell social services. The boy and his family moved. So who knows where he could be living now, or what measures are put into place to protect the children around him.
We shouldn't be paranoid about everyone. But more often than not these people are those who have already established contact with our children. Paedos targeting random children is rare, just as stranger-rape is rare, it is much more common to happen in the home, by a neighbour, or friend, or uncle, or even teacher. If there were a register of Paedophile's names, these are the children that could be saved. Alright, we can't stop it all from happening, but if we managed to save just one child wouldn't it be worth it? You might know all about your family members, but who's going to tell you that the likeable, mature and seemingly trustworthy teenanger down the road who babysits is on the sex offenders register? Or one of your dh/dp's friends?
I agree that once these people have committed such an horrendous crime they have waived any human rights they may have. They wilfully ignored that child's rights, so why should we pander to theirs? And I'm sorry Scared, but how do you know that your FIL will only target family members? How do you know that now he doesn't have access to them, he won't try it on with neighbours' children? No-one knows for sure, you cannot get inside his head. Surely it is better to be safe than sorry?
Besides, what we are doing at the moment obviously isn't working. We need better deterrents, and prevention is always better than a cure, therefore these people should be prevented from getting access to ANY children, which means informing people.