Court Reporting

I'm writing this blog from my hometown of Croydon - a town well known for its high crime rate - and it occurred to me that Tuesdays lecture on court reporting would be vitally important for me if I were to begin my career here, given the number of cases that pass through Croydon Magistrates Court each day. The ins-and-outs of court reporting may take some getting used to, but hopefully I have whittled down the mass of information into a few key points:

- a defendant is ‘innocent until proven guilty beyond all reasonable doubt’

- the accusation of a crime MUST stand up in court

- the role of the judge is to conduct the trial fairly on behalf of the jury; not simply to pass sentence

- the contempt of court act is important for any professional journalist, allowing a journalist to print the following details of a case:

- the defendants name and age

- address and occupation

- charge/ offence

- date and location of Crown Court hearing

- bail and legal aid conditions (where applicable)

- names of counsel

- term ‘the case is active’ is a particularly valuable one, although once in court a journalist can report everything that is said, as long as it remains:

- accurate

- free from malice or a lack of balance

- and is reported instantly

And as the BBC would say, the case continues…