Newsbrands Scotland has welcomed the decision by Cabinet Secretary for Justice Angela Constance not to introduce legal restrictions on identifying murder victims under 18 years old.
The announcement was made today (Monday, February 24) after a consultation to which Newsbrands Scotland contributed. Full details can be found here.
Newsbrands Scotland director John McLellan said: “We have every sympathy for families in such tragic, but thankfully rare, circumstances, but restricting the identification of child murder victims would be impossible without significant restrictions on freedom of expression. It would have potentially criminalised the right of communities to know what had happened in their midst, and even the right of relatives to speak out.
“There would also have been considerable difficulties with different laws applying north and south of the border, with digital publishers and broadcasters operating in England and Wales able to identify victims in Scottish crimes, but not news organisations based in Scotland.
“We are grateful to Ms Constance for reaching a sensible conclusion, and recognising the anguish grieving families face we will now help draw up guidelines for journalists to ensure such tragedies are handled as sensitively as possible.”