Goldilocks and the legal minefield

We have looked at the major areas of law; now see if you can spot them in this well-known story.

You are a journalist working for Forest News; this exclusive story comes to you from an unknown source claiming to be an eyewitness.

Dear News Editor,

I am the local Neighborhood watch representative for the Dark Woods and last night there was a terrible commotion going on at the Three Bears Cottage, I had to call the police who turned up and, in the end, arrested someone.

Anyway, I was talking to Daddy Bear today and he reliably told me what happened. I’ve known Daddy Bear 30 years; he’s not one to lie! He said that his wife had cooked some porridge for their tea last night, he’d just got home from work and because it was way too hot to eat, they thought they’d go out for a walk with their son Baby Bear.

They came home sometime later to find their house had been broken into, not only that furniture had been smashed and Baby Bear’s porridge had been stolen. Even more worrying, they eventually found the intruder, the blonde lass that I saw being arrested, asleep in his son’s bed! Some people have no shame!

Well I reckon it’s that Goldilocks lass from the other side of the woods, not only has she been missing for a couple of days but she’s got previous too – apparently she helped the Big Bad Wolf break into Old Grandmother Riding Hood’s cottage last year, nothing got done about that and I suspect this will be the same so I thought I would write to you, incase you wanted to send a reporter over? I’d be happy to talk to you; I’m fed up with the juvenile crime rate in this area! Bloody kids with nothing better to do!

Anyway, I have started looking into this to save you some time and I spoke to my friend at Forest Crown Court to see if he’d heard anything. He told me, off the record, that it is that Goldilocks girl and the police have charged her too – apparently she’s in court tomorrow, so you best be quick if you want a bit of an exclusive on this.

Yours sincerely

Mr Woodcutter

Dark Woods Neighborhood Watch

Task:

·      Identify the areas of the law that you are at risk of breaking if you publish this story

·      Decide on the best course of action for trying to overcome these areas

·      What would you need to do before you could start writing this?

·      Try and write a piece of legally safe copy stating the facts – this is a fictional scenario but a real challenge that journalists face!

·      Put all your work on your Radio News Blog

First course of action would be?

Area of law at risk of breaking and why	Is it possible to overcome this and how?
Slander The opinion is heavily involved and can influence the writer when punlishing the strory. This could ruin the public opinion of goldilocks before it has gone to court. Previous convictions should not be mentioned after contempt of court.	It is by not adding this influenced opinion into the piece and taking only the factual evidence that is provided you could write the article on this basis.
Animinty – court restrictions The baby and possibly goldilocks will be too young to mention within a publishment due to court restrictions. This means that their identity will be protected.	This could be overcome by not mentioning anything that could be connected to the younger people. This may be stating just ‘girl’ instead of her full name.
d Contempt of court. The word from the court room that are off the record are contempt of court. As the case must not be shared around before the judgement has been decided.	This could be overcome by not writing it into the report or letting it influence the piece in any way.
Baby bear is a victim of crime as he is the victom or the parents as they may locate or influence the crime.	This can be overdone but must have no clues on to the identification on the family.

Defamation

 They can not put that she committed criminal offences- unless this is confimed by the Police and needs justification. You could not argue ‘privalage’ as its from a private source and don’t yet know if its true.

She or anyone else called Golilocks can sue you for liable if its not confimed and identified properly.

Contempt of court

Goldilocks appears to have convictions- thismust be confimed and justified

The proceeding are active so impotant information must not be published although  they could publish a police appeal.

Goldilock is under 10 so she is in youth court and cannot be published. She cannot be charged with a criminal offence. If in crown court their needs a section 39 placed upon it.

The punishment is a prison sentence of upto 2 years.

Child Annonymity

Baby bear should not be mentioned as he is under 16 and under the PCC code he is a victim of crime.

Sexual offences

Goldilock in the bed means that she might be under the SOA act.

Baby bear might get life long protection along with his parents.

Child protection

Goldilocks may be a vonrable child and are subject to a care order or be a ward of court so they can not be named publically without the courts 

Law- Reporting restrictions

There are many restrictions that hinder a journalists story when reporting on court news. These laws stop the journalist broadcasting whatever they please regarding cases that are effecting peoples lives by keeping to the laws set out they are protected by the goverment.

Why do Reporting restrictions exist and what do they cover?

Reporting restriction are put in place to protect victims and some criminals in court to stop future injustice for example the hunt for a past victim when out of jail. It can protect many features although it is also dependant on the court case and whether their is the right to know certain information. Some of the cases that may be protected include :

• Victims of sexual offences. This is covered by the sexual offences ( amendement) Act 1992
• Youth court proceedings are covered fully by the Children and young persons Act 1933 but this may be changed in the use of a section 39 when an adult appears in an adult court.
• Alleged offences by teachers against pupils is covered by the 141F of the edjucation act 2002. 

These restriction are put in place for the protection of these pupils rights and to stop any future danger.

What is a section 39 order? 

In any circumstances that involves child under the age of 18 to be within court will be automatically protected by reporting restrictions to help them in the future. This is typical of child court but when a case is severe often like murder or manslaughter it may be carried out in adult court in this case a section 39 will have placed upon the childrens identities to keep them protected. This means that they can not be identifies in the press anyway whether this be by puzzle identifcation or anything else.

What restrictions cover elections - when does the election period start ahead of this years General elections ? 

The press is a large part of the election as it plays a main role on what partys get attraction and in trun more followers so their is a large need to regulate this. This is done through the use of restrictions although they cant go to far as it is known that new papers and outlets have their own political preferences such as The Sun is known to be a huge supporter of the conservatives. To spread an even coverage of parties their are certain rules that must be obliged by for example : 

• Their must be an even coverage of all parties upto the election period. 
• If a candiatate is offered the opputunity of exposure by broadcaster each party has to recieve the same offer.
• Any constituency or electoral area report or discussion after the close of nominations must include a list of all candidates standing

Broadcaster must offer the opportunity to take part in constituency or electoral area reports or discussions, to all candidates within the constituency or electoral area representing parties with previous significant electoral support or where there is evidence of significant current support, including any such independent candidate (rule 6.10)

These restrictions are all in place during the election period this is a 3 months before the general election is to take place. 

Why did the judge lift the reporting restrictions in the case of the Bulger killers? Was this the right thing to do? 

The reporting restrictions where lifted upon the Bulger Killers who were two underage murderers due to a brutal attack upon a younger chid at a mall should have been put in place to protect their indetities automatically. This stopped when the case had to be resolved in adult court meanig that section 39 would have to put in place normally but due to public intrest created mainly by the media exposure of the story the restrictions were lifted by the judge allowing the press to publish all information in the two children and even allowed them the access to photos and  their families. 

This was a controversial descion as the children were now exposed and placed at risk of their own futures thid meant on the time of their release a fake identity was to be given to the two boys.  I personally do not think that this was the right action due to the nature of the press the victims family now could be intruded at a time of hardship and grief leading to mixed emotions. It also could of created a contempt of court normally but would not in this case so the wide spread knowledge could have swayed many of the descions made in the court room. 

What is operation Yewtree ? Who has their identity protected in this investigation and why ?

Operation Yewtree is investigation into the abuse of young children by public figures. After the reveal of Jimmy Savile as a pedofile after having access to young children that have now come forward as adults shortly after his death to expose the truth. This lead to further allogations of other celebrities at the time of the offences to be taken into consideration and to lead any further victims of Savile to come forward. The operation has made a few accusations and has exposed more of the victims that now have the right to have their idenitiy protected not only due to the nature of the incidents under the sexual offences act 1992  but also because at the time of the offence thay would have been under 18 so they would have been protected. This leaves them with the desicion on whether they want to reveal their indentity.