Civil liberties - new material (57)
01 November 2004
Anti-social behaviour orders: case-law reviewed, Nic Madge. Legal Action (December) 2004. Reviewing the rapidly developing case-law in this field, the article first outlines the legal basis and general principles behind the use of ASBOs before focusing on the procedural side of their application. Madge then focuses on the considerations involved in the making of interim ASBOs and the publicising of recipients. He finds that the latter "may infringe rights under article 8(1) of the convention, especially if photographs taken under the powers of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 are used by the media". He then looks at the naming of children and the use of Section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act in cases brought against them, particularly at the interim ASBO stage where there should be a presumption of innocence. A recent case has also highlighted a conflict of interest where local authorities apply for ASBOs against children in their care. Finally he addresses the appropriateness of orders on conviction ("bolt-on" ASBOs) issued in addition to a prison sentence. He outlines two cases heard in the Court of Appeal. In the first it was found to be problematic to decide in advance that an ASBO was necessary, as "it should be assumed that custody would have some beneficial effect". In contrast, in the second case a two-year bolt-on ASBO was approved largely due to the frequency of the defendant's offences.
"Il Corriere avvelenato" (The poisoned Corriere). L'Espresso, 21.10.04, pp 90-92 &
"Capolinea Mentana" (End of the line for Mentana), L'Espresso, 25.11.04, pp 40-43. The replacement of Enrico Mentana, the founder and director of the Canale 5 (one of the private channels owned by Berlusconi's Mediaset holding company) news programme TG5 since 1992, added a new chapter to the debate over media freedom and the conflict of interests involving prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. It had already led to the disappearance of a number of journalists singled out by the prime minister (Enzo Biagi, Enrico Luttazzi and Michele Santoro) from prime-time television programmes on RAI channels (RAI is the Italian public broadcasting company), and to the resignations of the director of Italy's leading daily newspaper, Il Corriere della Sera, on 1 June 2003, and of Lucia Annunziata, the director of RAI 1, on 4 May 2004. Annunziata stated: "I resign against the occupation of the company", adding that "the limits of pluralism have been overstepped and that this council (the RAI management council) operates in a condition of illegality". These two articles are an interview with Mentana about his dismissal and his time in charge of TG5, and extracts from a chapter on De Bortoli's resignation in a book about "censorship and lies in Berlusconi's Italy". Mentana was replaced by Carlo Rossella, the erstwhile director of Panorama magazine on 5 November 2004, and he talks of his "long farewell", claiming that after the Gasparri law on the regulation of telecommunications "Mediaset was no longer forced to display a pluralist appearance". "What really hurts me", said Mentana, "is that the company did not clearly say what the situation was, that is, that it was appointing Rossella because he was considered... to be more coherent with the TG5's editorial line". The other article, relating to the run-up to De Bortoli's resignation, describes a number of clashes between the Corriere della Sera director and Berlusconi's lawyers Gaetano Pecorella and Niccoló Ghedini over the newspaper's coverage of the trials involving the prime minister and former defence minister Cesare Previti, with accusations levelled at De Bortoli of following "a precise and unmistakeable line" against Berlusconi.
Statewatch news online, June 2003; Repubblica, 4.5.04.
Risky spaces and dangerous faces: Urban surveillance, social disorder and CCTV, Sean P. Hier. Social & Legal Studies Vol 13 no 4 (December) 2004, pp 541