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The media and the family courts

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06 September 2007 / Eleanor Harris
Issue: 7287 / Categories: Features , Media , Family
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Government proposals to allow increased media access to family courts provoked consternation, and rightly so, says Eleanor Harris

The issue of public access to, and the reporting of, family proceedings has been the topic of public debate for a number of years. The high-profile criminal trials of Angela Cannings, Sally Clark and Trupti Patel raised general concern, not only about possible miscarriages of justice in the criminal courts but also in the family courts. The particular fear was that where such evidence was heard in private it could be more difficult to challenge the evidence, which could lead to miscarriages of justice.

IMPROVING TRANSPARENCY

This issue was explored by the Department for Constitutional Affairs’ consultation paper Confidence and Confidentiality: Improving Transparency and Privacy in Family Courts in July 2006 (CP 11/06). The paper made the case for greater openness of family courts, arguing that this would result in better understanding of the work undertaken, increase the ability of the public to scrutinise the decisions and lead to a greater confidence

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