First of all we were set the task of attending a court opening within the next couple of weeks. I was fortunate enough to receive the chance to visit a Magistrates Court in Bournemouth a couple of years ago on a school trip. The one thing I regret is not enjoying the trip more because rather than taking the time to find the trip interesting, I spent the entire time being paranoid as to whether I would do something wrong which would conclude with me being taking down to the cells. Anyway I shall learn from my mistake and this time will pay attention and share the thrilling experience with you all!
Back to today's lecture, the first thing I learnt (apart from the fact that the Listings Officer is the guy to go to if you want to know when the 'juicy' trail is about to come up) is that the most important principle with a Court is the Presumption of innocence. This means that everyone that appears at a Court for a trial should be treated as innocent until proven guilty. This means that as a member of the Jury or as a Journalist reporting on the crime, you must enter the Court without a Prejudice attitude towards the defendant. This is because it is virtually impossible to have a fair trail if you believe the defendant to be guilty before the trial has even began. Prejudice therefore destroys Journalism. Russell stated that it is best for Journalists to stick to the facts and don't have preconceived ideas. You lose the privileged position which Journalists have if a Journalist is found to have the facts wrong. All Journalists should follow the ''Fast,Accurate and Fair'' guideline.
The standard proof in Criminal Cases is beyond reasonable doubt.
All trials are held in public unless the witnesses will be put at threat or a woman would rather not share the details of a sexual assault in public. Trials being held in public ensures that there is evidence that ''Justice is seen to be done.'' The press is viewed as the 'eyes and ears' of the public therefore everything that is reported is therefore taken as the truth and is therefore unlikely to be doubted. This means that is is essential that Journalists report accurately.
Within a Crown Court the defendant has the right to have an evidence test by a Jury of peers. This is called Evidence based Justice and is included in the Magna Carta. As well as the defendant having the right to a Jury, no mention of any previous convictions should be mentioned unless it is essential to the current conviction. This is because mentioning previous convictions causes a prejudice attitude.
The Judge runs the trial and keeps it in order. The judge's responsibility is to summarise the case to the Jury but cannot however give his own opinion yet otherwise this could be an example of Contempt of Court. The Judge then decides on the convicted's appropriate sentence and what type of punishment is necessary.
This leads me on to talk about Contempt of Court which is a Strict Liability Offence. Anything that prevents the Court from granting Justice is an example of Contempt of Court. The consequence of committing this offence is a possible sentence of 5 years in prison. Contempt of Court is therefore taken extremely seriously in order to prevent justice from being served.
On a final note, all journalists should be extremely wary of what they write as one thing that I most definitely learnt is the ease at which someone can be sued!
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