- Child criminals should be given life-long anonymity, a government-commissioned review has recommended.
Ministers are considering introducing a law to indefinitely ban the media from identifying young offenders.
Currently, anonymity granted to under-18s by the youth or crown courts in England and Wales expires when they become adults.
Reoffending rates of young offenders see two thirds
of those released committing another crime within one year
|
The Ministry of Justice said it will discuss the proposals "with interested parties".
If such a law had been in place when Robert Thompson and Jon Venables murdered two-year-old James Bulger, the public would never have known their identities.
The
recommendations are part of a review into the youth justice system in
England and Wales by child behavioural expert, Charlie Taylor, to reduce
reoffending.
The report states that 69% of children sentenced to custody go on to reoffend within a year.
Mr Taylor says the current system "must evolve to respond... to the challenges of today".
Image copyright PAImage caption Jon Venables (left) and Robert Thompson (both aged 10 at time of these photos) tortured and killed two-year-old James Bulger |
Under current legislation, child suspects are
granted automatic anonymity in the youth courts and are routinely
granted the same if they appear at crown court aside from exceptional
circumstances.
But once a child turns 18, their name can be reported.
The
report says this "risks undermining their rehabilitation as their
identity could be established on the internet even though a conviction
may have become spent for criminal records purposes".
Instead, Mr
Taylor recommends automatic anonymity should also be granted in the
crown court and the reporting restrictions should last the lifetime of
young defendants.
'A step too far'
The
Just for Kids Law charity welcomed the recommendation, saying: "Being
named and shamed for what they have done or accused of doing prevents
them ever being able to move on."
Penelope Gibbs, vice chair of
the campaign group Standing Committee for Youth Justice, said children
must be given the "maximum possible chance of rehabilitation".
"There's
good evidence that the kind of vilification that is associated with a
child that has committed a very serious crime being identified, destroys
those chances of rehabilitation," she added.
Mike Sullivan, crime editor of the Sun newspaper,
said a new law would mean the judiciary would have the power taken away
to decide whether naming a youth offender was in the public interest.
He
told the BBC: "There are some children who have grown up disadvantaged
or have committed extreme crimes and the point of the change would be to
make sure the stigma doesn't carry on with them for a lifetime, so it's
not a life sentence. I think most reasonable people can understand
that.
"The difficulty is, if you have a teenage tearaway who is
responsible for half the burglaries and is allowed to hide behind the
shield of anonymity, at what point are you not informing the public
about the potential risks and therefore failing them?
"The option would be taken away from the judiciary with these recommendations."
'Internet changed everything'
Conservative MP for Kettering, Philip Hollobone, told the Times "the public has a right to know" the identities of those convicted for serious offences.
Bob
Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, also hit out
at the proposal, telling the Times: "The idea of a blanket ban would be
against any concept of open justice and the public's right to know and
is a step too far."
Mark Hanna, journalism lecturer at the University of Sheffield,
said while a new law goes against the principles of open justice, the
law has to balance the rights of juvenile defendants against the right
of society to know who has been accused or convicted of a crime.
He
added: "Arguably communities do have a right to know the identity of,
for example, a juvenile who commits a very serious, cruel crime at the
age of 16 or 17, or who is a persistent offender, so people can be wary
of them as adults.
"But the internet has changed everything,
because a report of a court case can now be read for an indefinite
duration, and so a person's offending as a juvenile could be discovered
years later with a Google search of his name.
"This could stop him getting a job, for example, even though he has become a law-abiding adult."
Mr
Hanna, who is also co-author McNae's Essential Law for Journalists,
said he would envisage that any new law would be worded to allow judges
the flexibility to lift anonymity in the public interest.
The
Ministry of Justice has said it would "discuss these proposals with
interested parties, including the Home Office, media and youth justice
interest groups in order to better understand the case for change and
consider the appropriate way forward".
Earlier his month, Justice Secretary Liz Truss announced two new "secure schools" for teenage offenders.
The schools - which were among Mr Taylor's recommendations - will focus on maths and English and Child offenders 'need lifetime anonymity'will also provide apprenticeships.
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