Can’t be named for legal reasons…

The internet is a funny thing. Anyone can post anything, and then EVERYONE ELSE can read it.

This is frustrating, because you can write an incredibly beautiful answer to the universe and it will remain unread for years. But you tweet about running over just ONE cyclist and it lands you in court with your name splashed all over the national newspapers. (This is a joke. Seriously, great big terrifying cycling lobby, please don’t hate me.)

It’s become a nightmare in recent years when it comes to process of law. Here in the UK we do not have the First Amendment, and when it comes to the courts, we most certainly do NOT have free speech. 

Often, we’ll say that people involved in trials “cannot be named for legal reasons” but then people on the internet decide to go and do it anyway. “Name and shame the SICKOS who XYZ” groups pop up with claims that it’s media censorship, or human rights of paedophiles being put before British Justice.

It is not.

Here are some of the reasons and examples why people in court will not be named by the press and you shouldn’t name them either:

1. They are under 18.

A child will be given anonymity in most legal cases. Sometimes the judge will over turn that at the end of a trial if he thinks it is in the public interest.

Newspapers sometimes press the judge to do this and win.

2. They are victims of a sexual offence.

This is a STRICTLY enforced law. You cannot put any information about a victim of a sexual offence no matter their age. Sometimes one of the people on trial is a victim too.

Even if you support the accused’s football team, it’s still not allowed and you will be arrested and have it on your criminal record.

3. Identifying the accused would identify the victim, or other children.

If a married man and woman sexually abuse their children then they will not be identified. This is because their name is the same as their victims.

If you hand your baby over to a man for abuse, simply because you like his band, you’re a pretty bad person. But if you name the woman who did this then you are further harming the child involved, whether you are famous or not.

4. They are being tried for other offences.

Sometimes people are tried for several things, and not all at the same time.

If a gang all accuse each other when it comes to someone they have killed then they must be tried separately. Each trial must stand alone on the evidence of witnesses, so you can’t name any of them until the trials all conclude.

If a person commits different types of crime, e.g. they deal drugs in Cambridgeshire, and attack several people in Manchester, they would be tried for both sets of crimes separately. But here in Cambridgeshire we would only report the drugs trial, and not name him so as not to prejudice a trial going on in Manchester.

Remember all the people who were furious that the people who killed Baby P weren’t being named? It could have prejudiced another trial meaning another victim would have been denied justice.

But hang on I only have 8 followers on twitter, and 19 friends on facebook so surely it doesn’t matter?

You may only be a receptionist at a plumbers in Dudley, but it won’t just BE you will it? Your friends will think it’s ok, and their friends, and their friends.

Concepts like fairness, openness, justice – they are all just concepts. They are not solid or real. They only work if we all play along. They are a team game.

It may be tempting to fight the system if you feel you’re in the right, and I’m not saying the system is perfect, but for the most part it works.