So, having failed in their attempt to get Campbell Live to publish the case against the Urewera 17 on live TV, the police have instead dumped it on the Sunday Herald. Some of what they publish is disturbing, a great deal is simply incredible and says more about what the police consider to be "evidence" than any wrongdoing or criminal behaviour, and some is highly worrying : if judges are handing out interception warrants allowing phones to be tapped on suspicion of terrorism because a political party's website was hacked, I humbly suggest that they need to familiarise themselves with the proper meaning of the term. But none of that changes the basic fact that this evidence should never have been leaked, and should not have been published.
In this country, we have a police force, not a lynchmob. In this country, we have robust processes to ensure fairness, protect the rights of the accused, and prevent mistakes. In this country, we decide guilt or innocence in the courts, not in the media.
I support open justice. I do not support trial by media. The former keeps the system honest and helps ensure the police prove their case. The latter removes all safeguards and transparency and replaces them with a ratings-driven lynchmob. And preventing this sort of thing is precisely why we have a justice system in the first place.
