Lecture 6.2 - Reporting Restrictions for sexual offences PDF

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Media and Entertainment Law Reporting restrictions on sexual offences

Automatic reporting restriction, and at times, life long anonymity orders, apply to the following; -

Reporting restrictions for children and young people in criminal proceedings (under 18)

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Reporting restrictions for children and young people in non-criminal proceedings (family court)

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Lifetime reporting ban for victims and witnesses under age 18; Lifetime reporting ban on victims of sexual offences;

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Vulnerable adult witnesses Withholding information from the public in the interest of the administration of justice;

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Reporting restrictions (or postponement) during trial;

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Appeals; Prosecution appeals

Automatic Life Anonymity -

Victims of a wide range are given lifetime anonymity under Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992.

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Section 1 applies to ‘any publication’ and can therefore include traditional media as well as online media and individual users of social media websites.

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Offences to which the prohibition applies are set out in s2 of the 1992 Act and include rape, indecent assault, indecency towards children and a range of other offences.

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The anonymity relates to the persons name, their address and moving or still photos of them during their lifetime which are to be published in England and Wales in a written publication available to the public; or to be included in a relevant programme for reception in England and Wales.

Exceptions to automatic life anonymity -

Three main exceptions to the anonymity rule;

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Firstly, a victim may waive the entitlement to anonymity by giving written consent to being identified, if they are 16 years or older.

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Secondly, the media is free to report the victims identity in the event of criminal proceedings other than the actual trial itself or appeal in relation to the sexual offence. This exception caters for situations where the victim in a sexual offence case is prosecuted for perjury or wasting police time in

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separate proceedings. Thirdly, the court may lift the anonymity order to persuade defence witnesses to come forward, or where the court is satisfied that it is a substantial and unreasonable restriction on the reporting of the trial and that it is in the public interest for it to be lifted. The last condition cannot be satisfied simply because the defendant has been acquitted or other outcomes of the trial.

What about anonymity for the defendant? -

While the law provides for lifetime anonymity to victims, such anonymity has not yet been afforded to defendants.

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The law is now rather unclear regarding suspects involved in historic sexual allegations (and generally suspects of a crime who have come to the attention of the police) since the Cliff Richard case. It may sometimes be appropriate to name a suspect, and other times it would not be ‘lawful’, each case should be decided on its merits.

S.39 Children and Young Persons Act 1933 (prohibition of the publication of certain information for under 18s.) - 1) In relation to any proceedings, other than criminal proceedings, in any court, the court may direct that the following may not be included in a publication - 1a) the name, address or school of any child or young person concerned in the proceeding, either as being the person by or against or in respect of whom the proceedings are taken, or as being a witness therin; aa) any particulars calculated to lead to the identification of a child or young person so concerned in the proceedings b) a picture that is or includes a picture of any child or young person so concerned in the proceedings.

Reporting restrictions for under 18s -

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S45 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, a criminal court can grant anonymity to a juvenile defendant, victim or witness in adult criminal proceedings. Such anonymity will last until that person reaches the age of 18. This power is not available to Youth Courts, since S39 CYPA provides automatic anonymity in those proceedings.

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In addition, under S45A of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, criminal courts, including

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youth courts are given a new power to grant lifelong anonymity to juvenile victim and witnesses. Consistently with the law in relation to adult defendants, there is no power under S45A to grant lifelong anonymity to juvenile defendants.

Re Gazette Media Co Ltd (2005) -

Concerns scope of a section 39 order.

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Editors code – IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation) -

Clause 11 of the code makes clear that you must not publish material that is likely to identify a victim

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of sexual assault unless there is an adequate justification and you are legally free to do so. Clause 7 of the code specifies that you must not, even if legally free to do so, identify children under 16 who are victims or witnesses in cases involving sex offences. You must not publish anything which implies the relationship between the accused and the victim. There is a public interest exemption to this clause, but publishers would have to demonstrate an exceptional public interest to overrule the normally paramount interests of the child.

Rape myths and media reporting

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‘Rape myths are culturally defined ways of understanding rape that attempt to justify or dismiss the occurrence of rape (Brownmiller 1975, Burt 1980). These generally false beliefs can be categorized in different ways, but most focus on blaming the victim, exonerating the accused, or dismissing reports

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of sexual incidents as not actually constituting rape. (Edwards et al 2011, Payne et al 1999) Media exposure often promotes belief in rape myths.

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Content analysis of news coverage reveals that the presence of rape myths in stories covering sexual assault crimes; for example, 65% of stories written about the Kobe Bryant rape allegations included a rape myth in their coverage.

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Across four major newspapers, upward of one in four comments blamed the victim for their sexual assault. (Zaleski et al 2016)

Jigsaw Identification -

Jigsaw Identification occurs when different pieces of information appear in different publications,

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which allow readers who have seen the reports to work out who the victim is. You should take all steps to make sure you and your colleagues are aware of what information has already been put out in the public domain by other media outlets and by your own media publication

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in any previous reports on the case, before producing additional reporting. You may want to liaise with other media outlets to agree an approach to prevent a jigsaw identification. Identification could happen through the combination of several seemingly minor details about the offences and/or the victim. You should carefully consider whether it is necessary to report on new details of the offences or the victim, in order to prevent accidental identification.

R v Evans and McDonald [2016] -

9 people pleaded guilty for posts on social media about the victim. Each were fined £624

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1000 reveals of her name on twitter.

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Changed her name and moved towns....