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Devlin name-suppression beat-up
By Steven | January 25, 2011
Russell Brown has a terrific post demonstrating yet again the way the media have lost the plot about name suppression.
He notes that no judge ever actually made a determination of the suppression application on the merits: an interim order was made by consent so that the application could be properly argued later. I suspect the application would have been declined, even though the offence was trivial. This was treatment that would have been available to anyone who indicated that they wanted to make a suppression application, not just wealthy celebrities.
I think the media may be missing what could be the most significant aspect of this case. Was Devlin’s behaviour really criminal? I guess we don’t know all the details of what happened, but from Devlin’s account, this is pretty inconsequential misbehaviour. I worry that the police are overusing low-end and nebulous offences like disorderly and offensive behaviour. Did you know that convictions for offences like this have rocketed from about 2000 per year in 1990 to more than 10,000 in recent years? Yes, there have also been more criminal convictions overall. But the use of these offences has risen from 1.2% of convictions to 4.5%.
I worry in particular about the use of these offences against protesters, but there’s plenty of evidence of their use as a catch-all for police who get irritated with someone who’s being stroppy.
Or are we four times more offensive and disorderly than we were 20 years ago?
Topics: Name suppression, Protest speech | Comments Off on Devlin name-suppression beat-up