Archive for anonymity
Teachers accused of crime are given lifelong anonymity
A Press release issued by the PA on the 17 November 2011 states
Proposals to give lifelong anonymity to teachers accused of committing criminal offences against children at their schools have become law after the Education Act 2011 received Royal Assent.
It means that teachers have become the first group of people in British legal history to be given automatic anonymity when they are accused of a criminal offence.
The anonymity ends only if the teacher is charged with a criminal offence, or a court agrees to an application that it is in the interests of ...
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People could be given the power to find out from the police if a new partner has a history of domestic violence under new government proposals.
The idea is similar to Sarah’s Law which allows parents in England to ask police if someone who has contact with their child is a sex offender.
Another idea up for consultation would give police a duty to warn someone whose partner could be dangerous.
It follows a campaign by the father of a woman killed by her ex-boyfriend.
Clare Wood, from Salford, Greater Manchester, was strangled by George Appleton – whom she met through Facebook – in February 2009.
She ...
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This item appeared on the Yorkshire Post web site here
A campaign for an overhaul of the law to grant anonymity to teachers accused by pupils ahead of court cases has been launched by a lawyer who has joined forces with an international best-selling author.
The call for the so-called Bill’s Law has been named after a respected teacher, William Stuart, who was acquitted following a six-month ordeal which was sparked when a 15-year-old girl alleged he had assaulted her.
His solicitor, Nick Turner, has linked up with the best-selling author Graham Taylor – a family friend of the Stuarts in Scarborough and ...
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Calls have been made for police officers to face public disciplinary hearings in line with doctors, nurses and teachers, after it emerged 48 officers in Wales have faced secret misconduct hearings in the past three years.
The hearings, revealed following Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to Wales’ four police forces, were all held behind closed doors with the identity of the officers and details of the allegations kept under wraps.
Supporters of the current system say the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) can intervene in serious cases and order hearings to be held in ...
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This item has been copied from the BBC website here
The media should be banned from naming people when they are arrested, the head of British Transport Police has said.
Chief Constable Andy Trotter said “catastrophic damage” could be done to personal lives, even if people were not charged or eventually cleared.
A recent parliamentary bid to protect defendant anonymity failed but he told the BBC action was needed.
It comes as two papers face a contempt of court case for stories on a man held in Bristol over Jo Yeates’s killing.
The High Court has granted the attorney general permission ...
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This story appeared in the Daily Mail newspaper on 15th June 2011
Lord Black of Brentwood warned that the measures would have frightening implications for the welfare of vulnerable children and Press freedom in this country
Plans to grant anonymity to teachers accused of mistreating pupils were branded ‘unprecedented, unnecessary and unworkable’ by a leading Conservative peer last night.
Lord Black of Brentwood warned that the measures would have ‘frightening implications’ for the welfare of vulnerable children and Press freedom in this country.
Ministers want to introduce measures which would grant anonymity to ...
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This article by Kate Loveys appeared in the Daily Mail on the 27th January 2011
New education bill will give protection for teachers falsely accused by pupils
Teachers are to be granted anonymity when pupils make allegations against them, which will only be lifted if a charge is made.
The proposals are set out in Michael Gove’s Education Bill, which also gives teachers new powers to search pupils.
It will also be made easier for teachers to hand out detentions. They will no longer have to give parents 24 hours’ notice.
Teachers accused by pupils of allegations will be ...
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“No touch” rules discouraging teachers from restraining and comforting children are to be scrapped, Education Secretary Michael Gove has said.
In an interview with the Guardian, Mr Gove said the move was part of a “new deal” for teachers.
They would also be given the right to anonymity when faced by allegations from pupils.
Mr Gove promised to change the rules on school discipline, saying the current system was too complicated.
He said: “At the moment if you want to become au fait with what this department thinks on how to keep order in class you have to ...
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Should men accused of rape be given anonymity? One man cleared of the crime explains to Mark Hughes why the answer is yes.
In his cell at HMP Addiewell, Jason Duncan knew it was only a matter of time before the story he had concocted for his own safety would fall apart.
Falsely accused of rape, the 22-year-old steel worker had decided it was better to tell fellow inmates that he was in prison for a shooting. But then one morning, a week into his time on remand, the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser landed on the wings, ...
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Voice: the union for education professionals has welcomed news that teachers are to be granted anonymity while complaints against them by pupils are investigated, and given a cautious welcome to new disciplinary and search powers.
General Secretary Philip Parkin said: “We are delighted by the news on anonymity. Voice has been campaigning for the right to anonymity unless and until charged with a criminal offence.
“Children need protection, but those who work with them – both teachers and support staff – are entitled to protection too. Careers can be blighted by false allegations.
“The lives and ...
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Family welfare charities fear coalition proposals will discourage victims from reporting serious assaults
Defendants accused of sexually abusing children or of domestic violence could be granted anonymity for the first time, under the coalition government’s first legislative programme.
David Cameron is considering affording the legal right of anonymity to more crimes carrying the greatest social stigma, in an attempt to limit the “reputational damage” caused to the lives and careers of anyone falsely accused.
The move is an extension of the suggestion that defendants in rape cases should not be named until conviction – a proposal ...
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Q5. [1330] Caroline Flint (Don Valley) (Lab): “The Coalition: our programme for government” states:
“We will extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants.”
May I ask the Prime Minister why he believes that defendants in rape cases are more deserving of anonymity than those accused of murder, domestic violence or sexual abuse of children?
The Prime Minister: I know that the right hon. Lady cares very deeply about this issue—the key issue of getting the conviction rate for rapists up—as do I. I know that she gave a good speech on the subject in an Adjournment debate. What I would say is that ...
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In 1999 Dave Jones’s world was devastated by wrongful charges of child sex abuse. in an autobiography to be published shortly he reveals the damage it did to his family and his football career.
Matthew Syed, The Times reports
It was at the moment the door to the police interview room clanked shut that Dave Jones knew something was horribly wrong. The place was dank and windowless. It smelt like a hospital ward with paint peeling off the walls. Fear seemed to engulf the manager of Southampton Football Club as he sat there, alone, waiting. He was jolted from his thoughts ...
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A Senate hearing wqas told tht even victim advocates acknowledge that people falsely accused of domestic violence should be able to erase their public court records.
“Everyone’s agreeing this is a problem,” said Lisae C. Jordan of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
The question is what to do about it, they said. (more)
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As a Welsh teacher is acquitted of abusing young boys in his care, Lisa Jones and Moira Sharkey examine where the line between protecting children and protecting their teachers really falls.
The acquittal of a teacher accused of sexually assaulting pupils has sparked fresh calls for anonymity of defendants in future cases.
FACT, an organisation set up to help teachers and carers who are falsely accused of sex crimes against children, has called for action in the wake of the case of Nicholas Lewis, 36, acquitted of 13 charges of sexual assault at Cardiff Crown Court.
Mr Lewis is now intent on returning ...
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The Supreme Court in Washington have ruled that the identities of public school teachers who face unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct can be kept secret to protect the educators’ privacy, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Identities of public school teachers who face unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct can be kept secret to protect the educators’ privacy, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The 6-3 ruling partially reversed a state Court of Appeals ruling that those identities must be disclosed under the state’s Public Records Act, unless the allegations of misconduct were clearly false.
The Supreme Court’s majority, led by Justice Mary Fairhurst, ruled ...
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In a speech on the need to strengthen school discipline David Cameron told the Policy Exchange that:-
“ …….. I want to strengthen the position of teachers further. More must be done to protect teachers from the tiny minority who are bent on undermining authority in schools by making false allegations of abuse against the teacher. A recent survey in SecEd magazine indicated that 20 per cent of teachers had been falsely accused and 55 per cent of teachers knew a colleague in their school who had been.
The Teacher Support phone line is taking almost twice as many calls about pupil allegations than ...
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Care workers involved in police probes into child abuse allegations should be given full anonymity unless convicted says M.P.s
BBC
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The Home Affairs Select Committee has called for a range of new safeguards to cover the investigation and trial of people accused of sexual abuse in children’s homes. In a report published today the Committee calls for audio or video recording of police interviews with alleged victims; anonymity for the accused; a tightening of the rules of evidence; and wider powers for the Criminal Cases Review Commission to enable alleged miscarriages of justice to be reviewed. The Committee says that “a new genre of miscarriages of justice” has arisen from what it calls “the over-enthusiastic pursuit” of abuse allegations in ...
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“People accused of sexual offences, including rape and child abuse, should be granted anonymity until they are convicted, according to a powerful House of Commons committee”.
The Observer
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Friends of a head teacher who killed himself after being accused of abusing an eight-year-old boy made an emotional appeal yesterday for names to be withheld in future until a guilty verdict. The growing number of allegations against teachers made the change imperative because the vast majority turned out to be unfounded and malicious. Although the police sought to justify the practice on the grounds that it encouraged other victims to come forward, it was unfair for innocent people to suffer. The annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers listened in silence as Dave Kitching described his last ...
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MSPs are to ask Justice Minister Jim Wallace to consider granting anonymity to men accused of rape. It follows a petition from the Glasgow-based UK Men’s Movement which said it was unfair in rape trials for the accuser to be given anonymity, but not the accused. A plea for stricter sentences to be imposed on women found to be making false allegations was rejected, as was a register of such women. The petition was submitted to the Scottish Parliament’s public petitions committee on Tuesday.
BBC
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