All this week, news has been dominated by the tragic story of the Wesley Graduate Chryslin Gladden who was found stabbed to death in the Lord Ridge Cemetery. As we've reported, investigators charged her 17 year-old classmate and the minor's adult boyfriend for Gladden's murder. Now, the National Committee for Families and Children and the Magistracy are scolding the media houses who published the 17 year old murder suspects name and face.
The whole trouble started with the police press office which released the name and photograph of the minor on the day that the 17 year-old was charged. 7news didn't publish her name and photograph, but others did, and they're now coming under pressure for it.
This evening, the NCFC released a statement saying "some media houses choose to violate the accepted standards of reporting." The organization added that there is currently a criminal charge that can be brought against a media house for doing this.
Under the Juvenile Offenders Act, it states that "No person shall publish the name, address, school, photograph or anything likely to lead to the identification of the child or young person before the juvenile court,...and every person who acts in contravention of this subsection shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars."
Almost simultaneously, the Magistracy, which rarely releases any statements to the media, reiterated that this law exists, and that there is a section under the Families and Children's Act that makes it an offence to publish the identities of minors in crime. Anyone who violates the act and does so is liable on summary conviction of a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year, or both.
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