Media Reporting of Child Homicide Victims

Victim Support Scotland welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Scottish Government’s consultation on Media Reporting of Child Homicide Victims. This consultation follows significant liaison with Ministers, interested parties, lobbying and participation in a Ministerial round table.

Currently under Scottish Law, children who have died as a result of crime and who are under the age of 18 lose their right to anonymity – protections which are available if a missing person is then found and for sexual crimes. This can cause significant trauma for families during criminal trials, with excessive detail published about the crime often including sexual elements.

Victim Support Scotland is calling for the following changes:

• Extend the current legislation regarding anonymity to include children who have died as a result of crime, to protect the victim’s brothers and sisters where they are also children.
• Extend the current legislation so that content already available that identifies a child who has died as a result of crime can be removed.
• Provide a way families can choose to waive their right to anonymity if they later decide to name their loved one.

As an important part of this process, we want to listen and learn from more victims and witnesses who have been affected by media reporting:

• Have you been the victim or witness in a case that has been reported in the media
• We want to hear your views
• We want to learn more about your experiences and the impact this has/had on children and other family members

Although this consultation focuses on child homicide, we are also interested in hearing from people whose case has been reported in the media. This will help us better understand and reflect where the similarities and differences lie when being reported.

To confidentially share your views, please email getinvolved@victimsupportsco.org.uk