Guilty until proven innocent?

[bikerfaerie]

Is anybody else feeling a bit uncomfortable about this case of the nursery worker, Vanessa George, who has been accused of sexual assalt and child porn? Obviously if she is guilty then that is comletely dispicable and a vile thing she has done. But as yet this is still an "if", she has not been convicted of anything. This has not stopped her

Comments

[random_redhead]

Yes, I am feeling uncomfortable about it too.
I haven't looked at the evidence against her, I'm not sure I want to, but I do not trust the reportage or the forces involved.

[alixandrea]

^This.

Although Suz, in response to your second paragraph, I know of two local (known to me personally) men whose names and street addresses (not the house number, but the street name) were given in the local press when they were both accused of child porn and before they were found guilty. And then there's the guy who killed Sara Payne, his name was all over the national press even before he was tried. So it's definitely not just this one woman.

[eddy_]

I'm with you on this one.

[nigelh]

The argument that gets trotted out in the case of accused rapists is that publication of the name can (and supposedly) has led to other victims of the same individual coming forward which has in turn led to new information coming to light which strengthens the existing case.

More generally there is an argument that it is in society's interest to keep the justice system as open to scrutiny as possible, and therefore reporting restrictions should be resisted.

[sarah_orange]

we were discussing how disgusting it was in the office yesterday - what ever happened to innocent until proved guilty...

she may be guilty she may not - that's for the criminal investigation to find out not the bloody news papers or some baying mob.
Also have you noticed how there always seems to be a disproportionate response to any crime against children by women. men commit heinous crimes of sex and violence against children really frequently and so much of it passes quietly - as soon as the alledged perpertator is a woman everything erupts. under the huge story in the metro today there was a small one about 6 men in scotland that have just been done for far worse/more extensive paedophilic acts. where were their front pages?

[melancholyrose_]

Probably the disproportionate respone to women who commit these crimes is because we as women are seen in society as the nurturers/carers and most likely to be the one who look after the children.
Any woman caught abusing children in any way goes against what society expects not that they expect men to do such things but it is more frequently reported however small the article in the newspaper.
I personally would like ALL convicted peados spread across the front pages so I can keep my nieces safe.

[asw909]

In addition, I've never understood the baying mob that go and shout abuse at the prison van (as appeared on TV in this case t'other day). What good does it serve? And, were those people the parents of alleged victims, or just "the public" who had come to shout some abuse at the latest bogey[person] in the public eye?

[glennkenobi]

Spot on. We still have the rule of law here, not mob rule and trial by jury not trial by media. She is legally, innocent.

[annomalley]

Totally.