The national roll-out of the Sarah's Law pilots has been welcomed and there is no doubt that any scheme that denies paedophiles access to children has its merits.
Indeed, one in 15 people enquired about during the pilots were, in fact, convicted paedophiles.
But that also implies that 14 others in every 15 were not.
Is this an indicator, to use the words of the BBC's Mark Easton in his blog, of a moral panic?
His argument has legs, as the statistic above bears out. But there has long been a feeling, as a result of the tireless campaigning by Sarah's mother, Sara Payne, that something had to be done, even if some of the tabloids exaggerated the extent of the problem.
Well, something has been done, but there are signs that the pilots were abused by some who had no reason to call on their resources.
The Guardian reports that the pilots were frequently used as a tool for revenge by fathers aggrieved that their ex-partner had moved on to a new relationship. Grandparents were also guilty of pointing fingers.
But the majority of applications were based on gossip or rumour, which was the main argument against Sarah's Law. Unfortunately, gossip and rumour have a tendency to spread, with perhaps dangerous consequences for the innocent subject of the application.
Clearly, there is much more needed to be done but Home Office statistics show that the disclosure decisions have led to 60 children being protected from potential abuse.
That is commendable but we cannot forget that Sarah's Law must still be viewed as a work in progress.
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