...to be shocked at a teenager charged with rape being named on Facebook?

[RachelWatts]

A woman was raped in my village last week. She was attacked while walking in the woods, and he ran off when she screamed.

Over the weekend, a 19 year old was arrested, but released without charge.

Today a 16 year old has been charged. Because of his age, the police are not naming him.

As usually happens, someone locally has inside knowledge, and has been commenting about it on FB, and it's shown up in my news feed, so I now know his name, as does most of the local community.

If the person named is the person charged, and he did it, then he's scum and deserves everything he gets.

IF they have the right name, and IF the person charged is actually the perpetrator. If they have the wrong name or the police have the wrong person then I feel sorry for the guy.

But I keep wondering about his mum. Bad enough that her child could do something terrible - now her friends and neighbours know and will cross the road to avoid her and spit on her in the street. And any brothers or sisters.

Of course it should go without saying that my thoughts and sympathies are with the poor woman who was attacked.

now her friends and neighbours know and will cross the road to avoid her and spit on her in the street

Really? You assume she's going to be punished for the sins of her son?

If he did it, then he's the one who has brought shame and trouble to her door, nobody else.

I can't imagine anyone spitting on her in the street! Why would they?

I agree though that they shouldn't name and shame if they're not 100% sure. Of course they shouldn't.

It's always happened though. The rumour mill is just amplified by social networking.

You are naive if you think this doesn't happen on social media. It's just like gossip except it's more easily accessible to a wider range of people. There are no laws like there are covering journalists.

Well maybe not actually spit on her, but I imagine some people will avoid the family, say horrible things to them and gossip about how he must have been bad from childhood and how they blame the parents.

Bertie are you sure that there is no law banning the publishing of a name despite reporting restrictions? I'm pretty sure there have been prosecutions of people doing that, e.g. naming of Ched Evans' victim on twitter. I'd report it, if I was the OP.

Bertie are you sure that there is no law banning the publishing of a name despite reporting restrictions? I'm pretty sure there have been prosecutions of people doing that, e.g. naming of Ched Evans' victim on twitter. I'd report it, if I was the OP.

Well yes.

Maybe the salt of the earth local community could perhaps refrain from spitting on a mother and her children in the street?

If that poor family is about to be harassed and placed at risk by local community brain trust vigilantes then I hope said scum are arrested and charged as well.

The victim of this crime deserves sympathy but also respect. That will probably bypass such fb commenters too.
It is no benefit to her to create more victims that need money spent on protection or prosecution because some rent a gob on fb wants to feel all warm inside about being part of a drama, not caring about dehumanizing a victim in the process.

They are twats and are merrily flinging stones into the path of the law they are so desperate to see done. There are a lot of twats about sadly.

Bertie, actually the law does apply to social media as much as it does to traditional media. Everyone who posts on facebook or pinterest or twitter or wherever is subject to the laws of, for instance, contempt of court.

Doesn't matter whether you work as a journalist or a barmaid, publishing details that could prejudice a court case is illegal. Naming a rape victim, for instance, or a child who is subject to legal proceedings - unless the judge has made an order than they can be named - or details that are subject to reporting restrictions, is illegal.

Oh, god, poor woman, how awful.

She must be feeling awful - because presumably now people may be able to work out who she is?

Is there anything we can do to help her?

Oh, maybe I'm wrong then but I'm sure it was/is different. Or perhaps it's just that individuals are less aware and could potentially delete their posts etc whereas with journalists they know their career could be over and there would be a record of what they had said.

Well the accused's name has been removed so someone has reported it.

Lots of the comments are of the "But he seemed like such a nice boy!" variety.

Bertie, you're wrong. The law is the same. Look up Paul Chambers if you're in doubt.

Bertie, it's more that journalists have training and so know what they can and can't publish, and because of their larger audience are more likely to be prosecuted.

But the law itself doesn't discriminate. I think we'll see more prosecutions of non-journalists over irresponsible social media posts in the future.

LRD fortunately for the victim people have been somewhat decent and not named her.

Reports seem to indicate it was a 'stranger attack' so there shouldn't be any way to figure out her identity just by knowing the name of the perpetrator.

rachel - oh, thank goodness for that.

She must be absolutely terrified.

What worries me about this is, women who've been raped often find it harder to go through with a trial because they feel the sympathy is not with them, but with the perpetrator. With all this publicity, she might feel that way.

Is there any way to counter that? I really hope so, but I can't think how to do it.

I stand corrected :) It must be a case of ignorance then. I suppose it's untrodden ground really. Social media is changing the way we relate information.

It's always been illegal to risk prejudicing a trial but the law couldn't really touch you if you said nasty things in the local pub, because those words weren't written down and published (and they couldn't monitor every pub in the country).

Now people gossip on Facebook and Twitter, there's a record of what they said. And that gossip can potentially reach millions of people, not just old Derek who sits on the third bar stool from the left and comes in every Wednesday lunchtime for Betty's hot pot, or whatever.

The DPP has made public statements about the need for people to take care when using social media - but clearly there's no obligation on members of the public to sit waiting with baited breath for every announcement the DPP makes, so there will be millions who haven't noticed.

I have just had something naming the young man who raped the 91 year old woman last week along with wishes for what might happen to him in prison and a request to memorise his face so, when he is released from his sentence, people can "watch out" for him

Poor woman.

That is awful. I didn't know they'd said she'd been raped.

I knew a girl who's mum was abused as a child and had finally reported her abuser many years down the line. Her daughter who hadn't even been born at the time of the abuse took it upon her self to discuss the very delicate details of the case on Facebook complete with photos and names of the men involved. She would discuss almost every word mentioned in court too.

Her profile picture was a collage of the two men which she would change throughout the day to keep it on newsfeed. Her own mum used to comment and ask her to remove them, that she didn't want to see their faces. She didn't listen.

I believe in the end she was told by the police to stop as the case was on-going and nobody had been proven guilty yet and she was jeapordising the trial.

Naming people like this could actually be bad for the victim because it could prejudice the court case.

What if the guy is innocent and the woman lied, will she get the same treatment as the guy got. Probably not because men accused of rape are near enough always guilty before they have even been charged. But women who lie about being raped have their names kept a secret.

But women who lie about being raped have their names kept a secret

No they don't. If a woman is charged with perverting the course of justice she is named. Last week a woman was jailed for 3 years for false rape accusations. She was named and had her picture in the paper. But just finding a man not guilty of rape doesn't mean the woman lied, it just means the state didn't meet their burden of proof.

Women who lie about rape are, also, extremely rare.

YANBU to expect any case of rape to be tried and punished.

YABU to be shocked at anything on Facebook. That's just the way it is.

The downside of social media is that it gives the keyboard warrior types an outlet. I've seen it a few times on a local group that I left for various reason, it goes from 'oh no, what's happened' to 'find the bastards' within 10 posts, along with any rumours, personal dislikes and threats.