MoJ issues guidance on “naming and shaming” offenders

The Ministry of Justice has published guidelines for councils on the “naming and shaming” of criminals, which include a rule that details published on the web must be removed after one month.

The guidelines, contained in Publishing Sentencing Outcomes – A guidance for public authorities, claim that giving out details: “Reassures the public, discourages offending, increases confidence in the criminal justice system and improves the efficiency of the criminal justice system.”

The MoJ insisted that in most cases – as long as care is taken to get the details right – the publication of offenders’ name and conviction should not create any problems.

Defending its policy, the government stressed that details of criminal offences were, and always had been, made public in court and this was just an extension of current practice.

The paper suggested there is no legal impediment to such publication, adding that this kind of publication would cover the details being used in “public meetings, leaflets or newsletters”.

However, the MoJ stressed there should be a time limit of a month for the web. It added that if there is a successful appeal against a conviction, the details should be removed. In practice it may well be that the details are published and taken down a month later, well before any appeal permits a quashing of the conviction.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said: “If people are to have confidence in our criminal justice system, justice must be done – and be seen to be done. Individual crimes often get a lot of media coverage and news can spread across communities quickly that a crime has been committed. However, the news that someone has been caught, prosecuted, convicted and sentenced does not travel as far.”