May scraps anonymity for young rioters
Neil Puffett
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
The government has called on magistrates to name and shame children involved in last week's riots, Home Secretary Theresa May has said.
Existing legislation provides anonymity for minors in court proceedings but answering questions from the media today (16 August), May said this should be forgone in cases of rioting.
She said guidance has been issued asking the courts to lift anonymity in relation to children convicted of offences related to the riots and hopes courts will follow it.
The judiciary already has powers to lift reporting restrictions, provided by the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, in specific circumstances, for example, in the event of serious crimes such as murder or rape.
But the new dictat could see children’s names and faces appearing in television and newspaper reports for crimes such as handling stolen goods.
Andrew Neilson, assistant director at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the move risks marginalising young people even more. "I think the nature of the offences needs to be divorced from the context of public disorder, which is clearly a serious public concern," he said.
"Nonetheless, these are children and the offences they have committed will vary and many would not normally result in reporting restrictions being lifted.
"We have got to look at the fact that when we are talking about young people who feel they have no stake in society and are excluded, these measures will only exacerbate that and will not tackle the underlying causes of the disorder."
May also said curfew powers are being considered and that she is looking at whether more general powers are needed.
Despite widespread concerns that many children were involved in the rioting, emerging figures appear to show the majority of those charged are adults.
