Law Essay - 2000 words - due for May 17th

The dominant strain of argument and debate regarding media law and sexual offences in the UK at the current time is the issue over whether defendants of rape allegations and sexual offences should be named or not in court.

The statute was changed in the 1988 Criminal Justice Act from the previous statute in 1973  before which journalists could name both the defendant and the victim in reports. Between 1973 and 1988 they could not name either the defendant or the victim in reports, but since 1988 the press can name defendants.

The issue is whether, if in the case of a false or malicious allegation, the defendant would be smeared for life (think Micheal Jackson) as a result of the media coverage. It is also that if, in the case of a trial that does not prove conclusive, whether it's more beneficial for society to know about the possibility that the defendant might be a sexual predator.

There is the issue that if a defendant is truly innocent, then they should be tried in an open court in a fair way, and therefore have all the allegations out in the open for them to debate and refute.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is the point that the statute acts as a deterrent to rape in the first place, if the guilty party knows that they will be named in court regardless of the outcome of the case, it acts as a very useful and necessary protection to women at large, precisely because only 6% of rape cases are successfully prosecuted in a crown court.

This is a link to the Office of Public Sector Information that covers the definition of rape.
It is very explicit and may not help for the essay but it is an important document and is central to the issue if only tangentially.

This is the UK statute law database website which covers the Criminal Justice Act 1988 where the statute was changed to allow the identification of the defendant. This is a central document to the development of the essay.