http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,5052161%255E2862,0... A VICTIM'S lobby group plans to use the Internet to out two Victorian teenage killers. People Against Lenient Sentencing president Steve Medcraft said he planned to pass on the names of the two teenage boys convicted of killing Seaford grandmother Marie Greening Zidan for publication on a US-based site. The group also plans to publish their addresses when released from jail. A civil liberties organisation has accused the group of taking the law into their own hands. The action came as Mrs Greening Zidan's daughter, Janine Bramley, gathered signatures on a petition calling for a change to the Children and Young Person's Act to enable children who murder, rape or viciously assault to be publicly named. Mrs Greening Zidan, 73, was killed in her home on October 15, 2000. Two local boys, then aged 15 and 16, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. They were sentenced to nine years' jail, with a minimum of six. Mrs Bramley said the Act was meant to protect children who scrawled graffiti or stole a car -- not those who raped or murdered. The petition also calls for sentencing for juveniles "more in line with community expectations". Mr Medcraft said he had legal advice suggesting that if the names of the boys were forwarded to the website's operators and then placed on the site, his organisation could escape prosecution. "The system will not guarantee these guys won't re-offend so if the system can't guarantee it we will at least give people an equal chance," Mr Medcraft said. He will seek further legal advice and hopes to have the names listed within six months. "If it means that I'm going to be put up in court on this issue I'm prepared to wear the flak so that the community can have access to what is their right to protection and free speech." Victorian Council for Civil Liberties vice-president Greg Connellan said placing the names on the website would be irresponsible. "They are acting unlawfully and it's incredibly arrogant for them to assume that they have the right to act unlawfully with impunity and other people don't," he said. Mr Connellan com mended Mrs Bramley for trying to get her point across through a petition. Mrs Bramley and Mr Medcraft met with Opposition corrections spokesman Kim Wells on Friday to raise concerns about justice, including offenders being imprisoned in juvenile detention centres after the age of 18, and lack of compensation for victims of crime. Mr Wells said he planned to table Mrs Bramley's petition in Parliament and will also present a letter Mrs Bramley has written to Parliament. In Victoria, the name of an offender cannot be published if under 17 when the crime was committed and under 18 when reaching court. A spokesman for Attorney-General Rob Hulls said: "In Victoria, the president of the Children's Court can give permission for the publication of a child's name, but the general principle is that they should not be published because the sentencing emphasis for children is on rehabilitation and giving them a chance to reintegrate and reach their full capacity in adult life."
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Matthew X