In Estonia, there is a proper and public criminal records database where anyone can view anyone's convictions. Such a public register has been created because it is the state's duty to protect past and potential future victims from criminals.

The criminal records database contains information on penalties imposed on individuals for misdemeanors and criminal offenses. Anyone can use the register (via the public e-file system) to check both their own and others' records — for example, to ensure that a new contractual partner is not a convicted fraudster or that someone attempting to present themselves as a babysitter is not a pervert.

Estonia maintains one of Europe's most open public databases of child abusers, rapists and similar offenders. Accessing information from the criminal records register involves a query fee of four euros, identifiable login and a requirement to state the purpose of the inquiry about a person.

While in Europe criminal records are generally deleted or anonymized in court judgments and other decisions after convictions expire, this requirement does not apply in Estonia to very serious crimes, including serious sexual offenses. As a result, data on pedophiles is and will remain public.

Everyone working with children must be checked

Another important obligation in protecting children is that all employees who come into contact with children must be vetted in advance through the same criminal records database. In addition, employers are required to check at least twice a year to ensure that the person has not been convicted in the meantime.

Since these inquiries are free of charge for such institutions or companies, the more diligent ones have set up automatic checks not just twice a year, but as often as three times a month. Failure to comply with this obligation can result in a fine of €32,000.

I very much hope that public awareness has now improved significantly and I am grateful to the influencer for helping bring attention to this issue. It is indeed critically important that places like riding schools, yoga classes or kindergartens are safe environments. We have a duty to protect children and I call on everyone to always be active in the best interests of children, while following the rules agreed upon in a state governed by the rule of law.

Is four euros too much?

While access to the criminal records register is free for employers, making an inquiry about, for example, a babysitter costs four euros. This fee has remained unchanged and undisturbed since 2012. A debate has now emerged over whether the register can truly be considered public if a fee must still be paid when the user is not an institution or a company.

Similar fees apply to several other public registers in Estonia and their primary purpose is to deter data miners and data thieves.

It is not difficult to imagine someone who reads this article having a minor fine on their record and that such information could end up in machine-readable artificial intelligence models and thereby become publicly accessible worldwide indefinitely. That is hardly an appealing prospect.

Or consider if this were to happen to your child who may have committed a relatively minor offense in their youth — information about a misdemeanor, not even a crime, which in reality expires and is deleted over time. It is certainly worth discussing whether a lower fee would make society better. If so, such a reduction could be implemented.

Concerns have also been raised about why inquiries must be made using a personal identification code.

The reason is simple: Estonia has many people with identical names and it would be unfair if one person's conviction were publicly — or even casually — attributed to an innocent namesake. Personal identification codes are widely accessible in Estonia and amid a recent wave of fraud, there has been considerable criticism of this as well. The assumption, however, is that when hiring, for example, a babysitter, their personal identification code is available for verification.

Would a grassroots and free database of pedophiles be of more help?

Not only in Estonia, but in many European countries, there have been numerous such attempts and they have consistently led to irreversibly tragic consequences.

In Estonia, as noted, data on pedophiles is public. However, due to someone's anger or desire for revenge, an innocent person may also be falsely exposed online. The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly ruled that the harm caused in such cases cannot be undone.

Screenshots and shares can inflict irreversible damage on an innocent person. They may suffer the consequences for the rest of their life. If this at first feels like a distant concern, consider how it would feel if such an injustice affected your son, father or spouse. It bears repeating: information on pedophiles is publicly available in the criminal records register and those convictions do not expire there.

Because the consequences of false posts are so severe, a rule has been established across Europe that criminal record data may only be entered into official registers under strict state supervision. The guilty should be public, but the innocent must be protected — only in this way can a society be just.

The innocent must be able to defend themselves

In the criminal records register, the state guarantees the accuracy of the data. This provides a reliable basis for anyone who has been unjustly accused somewhere. In this way, anyone can obtain an official certificate from the register confirming that they have no convictions.

Estonia's Supreme Court has also ruled that even a Facebook group where people independently shared information about alleged debtors is unlawful. This is primarily because, even if some actual debtors were named, others who owed nothing to anyone were also included.

With privately run public databases, there are always risks of error, the spread of false information, mistaken identity and collateral damage. Such dragging of innocent people to the stake must not occur in a state governed by the rule of law. If people begin to punish others on their own initiative, eventually anyone can become a target, and that is not the kind of social order we have agreed upon. Even the witch trials that began in Salem ultimately reached the judges themselves.

Crime must be talked about to society's benefit

To be clear, the media naturally has the right to report on crimes and the public has the right to be informed about criminals. Likewise, every individual has the right to speak publicly about their own experiences or to discuss people they dislike or consider dangerous.

Court proceedings are also public. The court is precisely the place where an offender receives their deserved punishment. Vigilante justice, however, does not make society more just or better. History offers many examples of how such practices ultimately make life more dangerous for everyone. There have already been examples cited of the so-called "Malluka's pedophile list," where innocent people have been harmed by such vigilante actions. As reported in the media: [blogger and influencer] "Mallukas acknowledged that there have already been cases where users have maliciously submitted false information."

It is crucial that any data presented about pedophiles is accurate. This is why, in Estonia and across Europe, the rule is that criminal record data is processed by the state, strictly in accordance with the law and in a way that ensures individuals do not suffer more than prescribed by law due to someone's malice or desire for revenge. This is how it must be in a state governed by the rule of law — to protect children and to protect every law-abiding person.

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