‘Why I Was Right to Name the Teacher’s Teen Killer’: Naming Teenagers in Criminal Trials and Law Reform in the Internet Age

Smartt, Ursula (2015) ‘Why I Was Right to Name the Teacher’s Teen Killer’: Naming Teenagers in Criminal Trials and Law Reform in the Internet Age. Communications Law, 1 (13). pp. 5-13. ISSN 1746-7616

Abstract

Argues that the law is unclear and possibly out-dated in respect of reporting restrictions and anonymity orders concerning children and young people, particularly in the Internet age and with different laws on juvenile reporting in Scotland under devolved legislation. Section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (CYPA) imposes an automatic restriction on any identification of children and young persons under the age of 18 (England and Wales) involved in any court proceedings. The statutory aim of the 1933 Act was to protect children’s very basic physical needs, recognised children as individuals with rights and had at its forefront the rehabilitation of young offenders. The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) have enabled the law of confidence to develop to protect a child’s right to life (under art 2 ECHR) and his or her right not to be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (under art 3 ECHR) which would arguably include anonymity orders on reporting on young criminals under the age of 18. Arguably, it is then absolutely right and in the interest of justice that section 39 orders are strictly applied and upheld by the courts; not only involving child killers but also post-release in order to uphold the rehabilitative principle enshrined in the CYPA. For full text article click on the journal citation or website link – available subject to subscription

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