In this case the publicity forced the State to reveal the victim of a horrible crime. But of course the alleged attackers remain cloaked in secrecy. And even if found guilty, depending on their ages, we may never know their real identities.
Toronto police say the use of a Facebook web site in the Stefanie Rengel case highlights the futility of imposing publication bans and that something needs to be done to update the law.
Under restrictions imposed by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, media outlets were banned from identifying either the victim or two teenagers accused in the girl's death.
Despite the ban, all three identities, including pictures, are being freely posted on Facebook, which is against the law.
Police and legal experts are concerned that those actions might affect the right to a fair trial for a teenaged boy and girl charged in Rengel's death.Stefanie Rengel, 14, died New Year's Day in hospital of stab wounds after being found bleeding on the sidewalk near O'Connor Drive and St. Clair Avenue by a passerby.
(Family Photo)
The 14-year-old died New Year's Day in hospital of stab wounds after being found bleeding on the sidewalk near O'Connor Drive and St. Clair Avenue by a passerby.
Mark Pugash, spokesman for the Toronto Police Service, says the Rengel case is a perfect example of how Facebook can often interfere with the rule of law.
"We simply have no control," he said. "I think what the events of the last few days have shown is that there are many people who are part of the criminal justice process who have to look and see whether changes are necessary."
Police released the name of the victim Thursday after obtaining the consent of her parents, as required by the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Legal observers say the case shows the law's inability to keep up with those who wish to express themselves on the internet.
Why ban the name of the victim? And being the child of police officers it is clear that they released their daughters name despite the YJCA.
After all even in regular criminal cases the assumption is that those charged are innocent until proven guilty, which is why the media use the term alleged. Well they are supposed to but often they don't. And of course the public often assumes that someone charged is guilty. But that doesn't mean that we don't publish names of the accused. So here is the contradiction for the Conservative Law and Order Government. They changed the age of consent to 16, they dropped the age that one could be charged as an adult for murder to 10 but we still have a press ban on naming teen agers involved in violent crime. Worse we may also have a ban on explicit details of a case as was the situation in the Homolka/Bernardo case. A case that showed the powerlessness of the court injunction on the media which was swept aside by internet reporting.
Now with Facebook, Myspace and other instant social networking sites, let alone blogs, websites in other countries, anonymous posting, etc. the attempt to restrict public knowledge of crimes makes a mockery of the law. After all who do you sue? Who do you jail? And why would you. In this case the Facebook site actually forced the situation into the public light. A light under the bushel. And the public interest is better served than by the injunctions and restrictions of the courts.
This is not the only recent case of teen deaths by teens using knives in Toronto so instead of hiding the name of the victim and the alleged attackers why not reveal all. And while we are at it why not reveal why we suspect such crimes are happening, rather than leaving it in the dark and thus open to all kinds of conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated suppositions. That is the real danger of the stupidity of this youth law and court restrictions.
In fact it is also the problem with criminal courts in Canada, they remain a British Judicial process rather than a libertarian one, that is one based on a jury system. Instead youth courts remain a Judicial prerogative, one operated as a closed system of lawyers, judges and severely lacks public scrutiny or access. Decisions made behind closed doors in secrecy are a bad thing, regardless of the judgment. Anything that opens up this closed system to public view is a good thing.
The final irony is that the very law that is being exposed as impotent is further cuckolded by the fact the Facebook posters themselves are teenagers.
Martha McKinnon, executive director of Justice for Children and Youth, says the answer is education. She says many Facebook users are teens and may not even know they are breaking the law.Unlike the justifiable confidentiality of names of rape victims, which is what the YCJA is based on , this has turned out to be a disastrous decision when it comes to Free Speech, Free Press and the right of the public to know. It is not a matter of educating the public but of allowing the public the right to judge through a public jury process. Which includes the publics right to know. Anything less is a cynical elitist process that concludes we are not as knowledgeable of right and wrong as those who make the laws and enforce them.
"Neither the federal nor provincial government have invested any resources into educating the public about why we have these confidence provisions [in the Youth Criminal Justice Act]; what they are for ... so that people will actually know what the law is," she said.
One only has to see the jury decision in the case to see that a jury is far more understanding and sensible than the court system and its professional advocates.
It is this failure of Free Speech, and an open public trial that creates the calls for harsher penalties and the return of the death penalty.
- Name:
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DO NOT POST ABOUT THE TWO ACCUSED
Post deleted 3 hours ago.Post deleted 2 hours ago.Post #29replied to Meagan's post
Youth Criminal Justice Act
Post #2replied to Maggie's postFirst I must extend our condolances and saddness to the family and friends of Stephanie. Life will no longer be the same.
Second, the YCJA is not tougher than the YOA.
The fine points of the law are actually somewhat different.
Under section 745.1 of the Canadian criminal code which deals with persons under the age of 18 that are convicted of first degree murder and sentenced as an adult allows for parole after serving anywhere from 5 - 7 years. This is not life in prison.
A youth sentence for first degree murder provides for a maximum 6 years in custody before parole, so the Youth sentence may actually see the murderer spend more time in custody
In addition, the sentence whether adult or youth will be served in a youth facility, not a penetentiary, untill the age of 20 or in some cases 23 years of age.
Joe Wamback, Founder
Canadian Crime Victim Foundation
teen violence in toronto.
Post #1wrote
Finally it once again exposes the need for real sex and family life education courses in our schools since it appears that this maybe a crime of misplaced passion, jealousy and a love triangle. The failure to deal with human sexuality and human relationships through humanistic education continues to be a fatal flaw in our public education system. Obviously the old adage of leaving such education up to parents and 'the church' has never worked and never will.
Friends of Rengel say she was the victim of a love triangle involving an ex-boyfriend. Meanwhile, one of Rengel's classmates told CTV Toronto that he heard the accused boy say he would stab the victim. The suspect allegedly shouted the remark during a cellphone conversation in the hallway of their school.What appears as murder may have been manslaughter, and as embarrassing as the facts may be they should be made public for the good of all. Because speculation without facts is far worse and leads to a lynch mob mentality and more not less reactionary laws.
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