According to a former criminal, CV-X (who wishes to known as CV-X for legal reasons) the debate over ID cards is "one-sided", and is based on "a mixture of ignorance and fear". Rather as CV-X maintains, the ID debate, is in desperate need of input from the criminal community:"There are two things that criminals like me need to add to the debate really. The first thing is that those against ID cards tend to base their views on discrimination against us [criminals] - and that is a real problem. These people think that the ID card scheme will create a massive opportunity for criminals - that we'll be going out there and nicking a whole load of identities and stuff. Speaking as a former criminal, I really resent the lack of trust and faith people have in us. We have human rights too, you know."
The second aspect of CV-X's argument was that for law-abiding citizens, the Identity Card scheme could only be seen as beneficial. On the basis of his own experience, CV-X felt that an ID card would have definitely led to his escaping prosecution for "crimes I didn't commit":-
"When I was stopped by the police [under suspicion of having committed various offences], and they asked for me name and stuff, I just froze - I couldn't remember who I was, where I lived and stuff. Not being able to remember that stuff also meant I suffered a real blank as to where I'd just been - I couldn't say [at the time] that I'd just been to my local bridge club with some 'la-de-da' people. I was so embarrassed and anxious about this that I tried to run away. But the police don't understand that, and the judge didn't understand that - the jury didn't like it either - they just all thought: 'righto, here's a fellow who is guilty as sin, let's convict.' They had, what they thought was reasonable doubt as to whether I was guilty or not, because I had doubt as to who I was in the first place - that's just crazy and wrong, isn't it?"
CV-X maintains that if he had possessed an ID card at the time, he wouldn't have 'frozen' when initially stopped by the police, "even though I couldn't remember who I was, I would have had the peace of mind that I could just get my ID card out to prove exactly who I was - I wouldn't have acted so suspicious an' all. I give the ID card scheme the thumbs up - I wouldn't have been rotting away for 8 years in prison had I been carrying one. I think that people should think of that the next time they sniff at ID cards.'
CV-X's testimonial emerges from a series of interviews undertaken with members of the wider community. These interviews constitute an important part of the third stage of our School's independent research study (funded by 'Say Yes to ID Cards'), entitled: 'Say Yes to ID cards: Ordinary People say Yes'.
