Re: Glenbrook accident [NSW] (Media behaviour comment)

[pcc@ocean.com.au (Les Brown)]

royboy@DELETE_THIS.bit.net.au (Roy Wilke) wrote in aus.rail:

>Remember - no-one is a Criminal until they have been tried, convicted
>and sentenced in a court of law. 
>
>From a legalistic and judicial point of view I understand your point
of view, but if general society decrees that a person is guilty
because of public perceptions of nefarious activities, then that
person may be deemed by society to be a criminal. In this case,
society has acted as prosecutor, judge and jury. It may be correct or
it may not in its judgement.

If a person kills another because the murdered person was tormenting
his murderer prior to his death, then, if it can be proven in a proper
court of law, this is considered a mitigating circumstance in the
sentancing of that person, ie: if a woman is being tomermented by her
husband and she kills him, the judge may decide very leniently against
the defendant. In effect, it seems to me that the judge has considered
the woman's "punishment" of her husband as a considered and somewhat
justifiable act. Society generally would not consider the tormeted
woman to be a criminal. Of course you could say that the woman acted
in self-defence but that same argument could also apply to society's
need for a judicial system. There are lots of examples where a person,
acquitted in court, was regarded as a criminal in society and shunned
and excluded as a result.

I suppose the purpose of this long-winded post is to say that a person
is labelled a criminal if society generally considers that person to
be a criminal. In effect, all a court of law will do is add its own
considerable weight to society's general opinion.

As can be guessed, it is therefore vital that any person involved in
passing judgement on another be shielded from society's opinions so as
to ensure that when a court does pass judgement, it is based solely on
facts and evidence, rather than on society's opinions. I think it is
perfectly natural for a person to come to some judgmental conclusion
or another - we do it all the time, intentionally or not. The risk is
in judging too hastily before a proper understanding and knowledge of
the facts and circumstances is reached or discovered. Until all that
could be known - is known, it is better to not to make any public
decleration about one's personal judgement because it is possible to
tip the balance one way or the other in the minds of those who need to
reach a decision.

Society and especially the Media, must be very careful how it presents
"opinion", you will never know who will get to be persuaded by it and
you will never know what effect it will have on the verdict.

Les Brown