Victims out killers online.

Matthew X profrv at nex.net.au
Sun Sep 8 06:45:44 PDT 2002


http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,5052161%255E2862,00.html
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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