Derryn Hinch is again publicly naming sex offenders, purportedly in a bid to ensure public safety.
This particular example is not the only one and is likely to continue until such heavy penalties are applied that media outlets can no longer weigh up ratings against time in jail.
The Internet and the Right to a Fair Trial speech from 2005 contains an absurdly appropriate quote from 1846:
“The discovery and vindication and establishment of truth are main purposes certainly of the existence of Courts of Justice; still, for the obtaining of these objects, which, however valuable and important, cannot be usefully pursued without moderation, cannot be either usefully or creditably pursued unfairly or gained by unfair means, not every channel is or ought to be open to them. The practical efficacy of torture is not, I suppose, the most weighty objection to that mode of examination … Truth, like all other good things, may be loved unwisely – may be pursued too keenly – may cost too much.” – Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce, 1846.
Keep in mind that those who are determined as unable to receive a fair trial are simply released. Naming sex offenders and pedophiles may seem like a good idea to protect the public, but you do not have that right (despite your ego) and your very actions may result in a criminal walking free, never able to be tried on that charge. Hinch is no hero, he’s a vigilante with an ongoing disregard for the law.
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