I WAS disconcerted when I heard Kevin O’Sullivan on Talk Radio celebrating the first televised court case in the UK, the sentencing at the Old Bailey of 25-year-old Ben Oliver to life imprisonment for the manslaughter of his grandfather. Like Dominique Samuels, who agreed with him, O’Sullivan appears to think this theatre will be beneficial to the British public.
Do you agree?
Personally, I couldn’t be more against it. What if the person accused is innocent of the crimes they are being accused of? Not only will they have their personal details broadcast to all and sundry but they will have to live with the stigma of the accusations that put them there to begin with.
This is not the theatre and though mob rule is making a comeback, we’re not rounding up witches and burning them at the stake. What good could come from having a baying mob shouting at a screen?
All the public need to know is whether the person accused is guilty or innocent and whether they are a danger to the public or not. We don’t need to hear the very private details of everyone involved splashed across our screens and radios and sensationalised. We are not American. We’ve lived so far without court TV and I don’t see why it is needed now.
Feel free to discuss this or anything else on your mind.
