High court upholds "name and shame" ban
01 May 2003
In June the High court upheld an earlier ruling that Essex police's "name and shame" campaign, in which they proposed to publish a photograph of a convicted man on posters in the area where he lived, could not be put into operation as it may be illegal (see Statewatch vol 12 no 6, vol 13 no. 2). Emulating policing initiatives in the USA, where pictures of convicts displaying placards bearing the words "I am a burglar" are not uncommon, Essex police had wanted to place about 40 posters featuring the man's face and details with the words: "If you commit a crime in Brentwood your name and image will be on this poster." The scheme had been criticised as "utterly misguided" by criminologists and civil rights campaigners who pointed out that it would not only breach the man's human rights, but it could endanger members of his family as well. These point were picked up at the High court when Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, spoke of his concern that the campaign could be "detrimental to the offender's rehabilitation" and that it might cause damage to his children. Woolf referred to the right to protection of their private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. "It does not need much imagination", he said, "to see how a poster campaign in relation to a child's father could produce unfortunate reactions in the playground of the child's school." However, he refused to rule out such poster schemes in the future, concluding that he could not give the campaign a "green light" - "it must remain on amber" until further safeguards are available. To this end Woolf refused to make an order outlawing the "maverick" campaign.
The decision was acknowledged by Essex chief constable Peter Coleman who said: "We are pleased that the High court has not closed the door on this scheme." Essex police interpret this as meaning that their "innovative" scheme is not unlawful, "but key points in the judgement said more needed to be done to consult with outside agencies such as Essex Probation Service, when it comes to the potential damage that could be done to [the victim's] rehabilitation, and to the lives and of his ex-wife and child..." Essex police have stated that "this is not the end of the posters" and a new consultation process is already underway. As the Essex's Superintendent Peter Coleman put it: "I have had enquiries from other forces wanting to use it for all different reasons, from targeting football hooligans, anti-social behaviour, deceptions and street robberies. It is a really wide-ranging scheme."
Police Review 11.7.03; Standard 12.6.03; Independent 13.6.03