Would you run the name

lone star scribe · Dec 3, 2011

Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! said:

I doubt we would run the name's until the kids were charged.
Would I write a story about the player's being suspended? Yes. But I would not say why.
No charges have been filed. That is a huge factor.
These kids haven't been charged with a crime. And it's poor form to drag them through mud without due process. It's all piss poor the paper never attempted to contact the kids in question, their parents or their attorney if they have one.

I also think it's a load of crap the female is not ID'd. If charges are not filed it will be because investigators determined the sex was consensual. So the boys will be labeled as sex offenders, while nothing happens to the accuser.
I think the AP's standard of not identifying victims of alleged sexual assault is a shitty - esp. when those charges are proven to be unfounded.
This happened in our area recently. We never ran the story, because no charges were filed. The girl consented to perform sex on two kids at the same time at a party. It was in front on a large group of people and videoed. Dad went to the cops. No charges. No story.
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Not sure I read you right. Are you saying that all victims of sexual assault should be identified in the media? Or are you saying only in certain cases?

93Devil · Dec 3, 2011

Jake_Taylor said:

We had a situation at my previous paper in which we find out a 16-year-old junior football player was arrested for assault. He was a big-time recruit (surprise, surprise he kept getting in trouble and never went to college) with all kinds of major programs after him, but he spent his evenings waiting for migrant workers to get paid and then beating the shit out of them for their cash.

We ran the story with his name. He was a 6-5, 250-pound menace to society making it dangerous to be in grocery store parking lots after dark. He also was a candidate to receive a full-ride scholarship from the two biggest public colleges in the state.

The kids mom threatened to sue us, but had no case. Now if she could have gotten the name of the person in the Commonwealth Attorney's office who leaked it us, that person might have been in deep shit.
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Does the seriousness of the crime change peoples' responses?

JR · Dec 3, 2011

Rhody31 said:

JR said:

Rhody31 said:

JR - even if someone else says they're the acccused?
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Not sure what you mean but no, you cannot publish the name of a young offender unless he/she is tried in adult court.

Under the Young Offenders Act, the youth’s name was not published unless he or she was tried in adult court. The YCJA prohibits any publication of names or information that could lead to identifying a young person who has been dealt with under the YCJA. The exceptions to this rule are youth who receive an adult sentence or are presently missing and considered dangerous and “unlawfully at large.
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JR,
Basically, I meant if you asked the coach "Why is Johnny not playing Friday?" and he replies "Because he got arrested for assault." Could you run that?
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Nope.

outofplace · Dec 4, 2011

Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! said:

I doubt we would run the name's until the kids were charged.
Would I write a story about the player's being suspended? Yes. But I would not say why.
No charges have been filed. That is a huge factor.
These kids haven't been charged with a crime. And it's poor form to drag them through mud without due process. It's all piss poor the paper never attempted to contact the kids in question, their parents or their attorney if they have one.

I also think it's a load of crap the female is not ID'd. If charges are not filed it will be because investigators determined the sex was consensual. So the boys will be labeled as sex offenders, while nothing happens to the accuser.
I think the AP's standard of not identifying victims of alleged sexual assault is a shitty - esp. when those charges are proven to be unfounded.
This happened in our area recently. We never ran the story, because no charges were filed. The girl consented to perform sex on two kids at the same time at a party. It was in front on a large group of people and videoed. Dad went to the cops. No charges. No story.
Click to expand...

Wow. I couldn't possibly disagree with you more on this one. No way should you identify the victims.

Maybe if it all turns out to be bullshit, then you put her name out there. But unless that happens, no fucking way. Victims need that kind of protection so they will be able to come forward.

Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! · Dec 5, 2011

lone star scribe said:

Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!! said:

I doubt we would run the name's until the kids were charged.
Would I write a story about the player's being suspended? Yes. But I would not say why.
No charges have been filed. That is a huge factor.
These kids haven't been charged with a crime. And it's poor form to drag them through mud without due process. It's all piss poor the paper never attempted to contact the kids in question, their parents or their attorney if they have one.

I also think it's a load of crap the female is not ID'd. If charges are not filed it will be because investigators determined the sex was consensual. So the boys will be labeled as sex offenders, while nothing happens to the accuser.
I think the AP's standard of not identifying victims of alleged sexual assault is a shitty - esp. when those charges are proven to be unfounded.
This happened in our area recently. We never ran the story, because no charges were filed. The girl consented to perform sex on two kids at the same time at a party. It was in front on a large group of people and videoed. Dad went to the cops. No charges. No story.
Click to expand...

Not sure I read you right. Are you saying that all victims of sexual assault should be identified in the media? Or are you saying only in certain cases?
Click to expand...

I'm saying the AP policy is inconsistent. It's also unfair in cases where the alleged assaults are proven false or unfounded.

Why do victims of sexual assault - and just sexual assault - get preferential treatment of anonymity?
If you are are the victim of any other crime - pick one - you are named. In the police reports we run, your general address also appears in print. WTF? Be it burglary, assault, attempted murder your name and street address appears in the paper.
For whatever reason, the AP has deemed sexual assault to be some sort of sacred line that should not be crossed.

I think it is very inconsistent. And it is not fair to the accused. Look at the what happened to the Duke Lacrosse kids.

I realize my stance is not a popular one but I think alleged sexual assault victims are afforded an unfair protection by the AP.
I have lost count of the number of stories I have written of sexual assualt claims - against high school and college kids - than were unproven. But we wrote stories - complete with mug shots - about the arrests and charges.
One recently, against a college kid by a ex-girlfriend, was unfounded. But the stigma caused the kid to drop out of school.
He is still lambasted in a wingnut blog every month as a sex offender who got off.
Do an Internet search for the accused and this is the shit that pops up first - not the fact the claim was bogus or the charges were dimisssed. Anytime someone wants to Google him - that's what comes up.
The alleged victim? ... ... ...

Ace · Dec 5, 2011

JR said:

How old are these guys?

Up here you can't publish the names of any person under the age of 18 who is charged or may be charged with a crime
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You can't or you don't?

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