The Name Suppression debate has now reached Canada. What does the columnist think, Bring in Name Suppression or maintain their free and open court system?
It’s a rare week that goes by when someone doesn’t call our newsroom to rail against a system of justice that allows the publication of the names of people charged with crimes.
“You’ve got no right to have his name in the paper!” says the infuriated caller, and it can be tough to convince them that, in fact, we do have the right.
It’s nothing personal as far as the media is concerned, but it must feel intensely personal for the person whose face and name make it into print or onto the television screen.
And that’s understandable.
Most people would want to protect their identity if they could, if they’ve been charged with a crime.
It’s tough enough to explain things to your family and friends, let alone have the whole province know you’ve been charged with an offence, even if you are confident it’s all been one big misunderstanding and your name will be cleared.
“I think that in all honesty, regardless of the crime, names should not be released if it could hurt the rest of an innocent family,” Kay from St. John’s, N.L., wrote in response to my column on “Naming names” last week.
“There is something inherently wrong when a person charged with an offence such as sexual assault or any serious charge, is paraded, in handcuffs, and his/her picture is plastered on the front page of a newspaper,” wrote Gar from Mount Pearl.
“Is that person not presumed innocent until proven otherwise?”
Ok so we know that there is no such thing as name suppression in Canada.
Those are good points, and there are many others to be made in a debate that has been simmering not just in our neck of the woods, but in many jurisdictions.
But while some people here would like the names of the accused to be suppressed, in New Zealand they’ve been there and done that, and many people will tell you it just doesn’t work.
Yeah, like me.
But problems have arisen because the courts have a huge amount of scope when it comes to suppressing names, and the Law Commission doesn’t feel the policy is applied consistently.
“The current position in New Zealand is that the courts have a broad discretion to prohibit publication of names or identifying particulars of people accused or convicted of crimes …,” law commissioner Val Sims told The Telegram.
“The commission’s view is that this discretion is too broad, and can lead to uncertainty and inconsistency. We recommended that the scope of the discretion should be reduced, and specific grounds on which name suppression may be granted should be set out in legislation.”
The New Zealand Ministry of Justice is currently working with the Law Commission to draft a new bill simplifying criminal procedure.
Meanwhile, names are still being suppressed, and critics say the policy has led to a two-tiered system of justice.
I am astonished it takes so long to implement such a simple thing. The problem I suspect is that like all thing political, and this is political, is that there has to be a compromise. So the Law Commission is trying to make name suppression less available and at the same time increase the penalties for those who breach suppression. What will result is a dogs breakfast.
Stop Demand, an Auckland-based organization devoted to stopping sexual violence against women and children, was outraged this month when name suppression was granted to a prominent businessman after he downloaded more than 300,000 pornographic images over a two-year period, many of them of young girls. He was arrested and convicted after an FBI investigation.
The man was given four months’ house arrest and there is a permanent publication ban on his identity.
The founder of Stop Demand, Denise Ritchie, said granting sex offenders anonymity allows them to operate in secrecy.
“Given the sheer volume of images and the lengthy two-year period of offending, this man clearly has a sexual interest in young girls,” she told The Telegram via e-mail.
“The public, particularly caregivers and children in his community, are entitled to know who he is.”
I was outraged too, and now I have been charged with naming him. The public does have a right to know about creeps like this. The Judge does not know best.
Ritchie said public perception is that the well-connected can apply for and receive name suppression, while regular folks have to suffer the slings and arrows of publicity when they face criminal charges.
“In New Zealand, permanent name suppression has recently been granted to an ex-MP, an entertainer/comedian, a top level sports player, and a ‘prominent man’ in a provincial town, to cite some examples …,” Ritchie wrote.
“Lesser-known New Zealanders committing similar offences do NOT receive name suppression. The public disquiet rests largely on the issue that the law is not being applied equally to all New Zealanders and a sense that some courts are willing to protect the names of the ‘well heeled.’
“A system of justice should be – and seen to be – open, and one that is applied equally to all. Name suppression should be granted only in exceptional circumstances, such as (when) in doing so it would identify a sex abuse victim.”
As they say perception is reality, something that FIGJAM should start taking notice of.
Granting anonymity to some and not to others has led to virtual vigilantism in New Zealand, where at least one prominent blogger makes a habit of “outing” those who have been granted name suppression.
He is facing charges as a result, but remains committed to his cause.
“I think that the public have had enough and I am just tapping into what the public want,” Cameron Slater told New Zealand’s 3 News.
Just last month, his prominent Whale Oil blog identified a national figure charged with indecently assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
Other critics of name suppression point out that by not naming suspects, a whole segment of society is unfairly tarred with the same brush.
The evil blogger. Fancy him running a vigilante action.
In November, the New Zealand Herald reported that a drunken entertainer who exposed himself and forced a teenage girl’s face into his genitals pleaded guilty but was discharged without a conviction and was granted name suppression because “(t)he judge said publicity would have a detrimental effect on his career and his record and ticket sales.”
Is this the kind of system we want?
Flawed but fair
Canada’s open justice system is not perfect. Some charges are publicized while others are not, depending on their severity or the perceived level of public interest.
People convicted in smaller centres in this province are less likely to have their cases publicized than those in urban areas because media organizations tend to base most of their reporters in larger communities.
Some crimes get high-profile coverage, while others wind up as brief news snippets in the paper or in radio or TV newscasts, depending on what other news has broken that day.
Occasionally, the media might inadvertently report that someone was charged, but not that they were later acquitted.
But the alternative is a closed or partially closed system – some would argue an elitist one – where justice for you and me may feel a whole lot harsher than for those with power or influence.
William Goodridge, a judge with the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Trial Division in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, says our system should be safeguarded and supported.
“The open court is a key component of our free and democratic society,” he wrote to The Telegram last week.
“Members of the public rely on the media as their eyes and ears, to comment or criticize. That role by the media is so, so important in our society. It is one of the key safeguards ensuring a ‘just society.’”
Those “eyes and ears” may not be infallible, but they do strive to be impartial, and that is far better than a system where judges can make decisions based not just on someone’s criminal record, but on their record sales.
When Labour foisted the Electoral Finance Act upon us they said it was to bring us in line with Canada, Australia and the UK. Almost the same argument can be made here. The UK and Canada either use name suppression sparingly or not at all.
New Zealand essentially now has a closed Justice system or at the very least a two tiered system. That must go. Having an open court is a key component for us to enjoy a free and democratic society.
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According to his blog, Kevin visited the Bridges Shopping Centre in Sunderland with his son to spend the £10 his father gave the boy on a family visit. While there, he seated his son on a coin-operated train ride and snapped a photo of him with his cameraphone. At this point, a Bridges security guard came by and ordered him to stop taking pictures. He said that it was mall policy, and implied that Kevin was taking pictures because he was a paedophile. Kevin told him that this was ridiculous and took his son to find his wife and get out of the mall. He also took a picture of the security guard “so that if I later wanted to make a complaint to the centre I would be able to identify him.”