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Anonymity for Defendents: Keeping Everything Private Essay

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Anonymity for defendants
Unfortunately today, the identities of those on trial are not hidden. If someone glanced in a newspaper they would be able to find the names of many people who are trying to prove their innocence. While this may be reassuring for the people who want to know who to avoid on the street corners it is not exactly a fair system. You are likely to find all defendants deepest darkest secrets in the media. It somehow does not seem prudent that people are crucified due to their identities being released before being found guilty. Recently Michael Le Vell from Coronation Street was charged with rape, sexual activity with a child, indecent assault and causing a child to engage in sexual acts. It took less than five hours for …show more content…

After Tabak's conviction Jeffries accepted substantial damages for defamation from the Scotsmn, the Sun and several other newspapers. Despite it being clear that Jefferies is innocent he will always be known for the case. This isn't the only the time something like this has happened. It has now become quite a common occurence for to see people accused of crimes in the tabloid and them to later be cleared. After someone is accused of a crime newspapers conveniently tend to print things that correspond with the defendants ever growing bad reputation. It is not uncommon to hear someone sighing and claiming that they knew all along that there was something wrog with them, nice of them to mention it. This can have disastrous consequences. remember when Madeline Mcann's parent's were accused of killling their daughter? The newspapers, finally given someone to blame , ran wild with the possibility and just like that the seed of doubt was planted in people's minds. For a while, people convinced saw no point in trying to find a kidnapper if it was her parents. This wasted too much valuable time which could contribute to the fact that Madeline is still missing today. All it takes is one suggestion or mistake made by the police or anyone else and the media's exaggerations that branch out are just plain

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