NCJ Number
73129
Date Published
1976
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Commentaries and remarks address the American Bar Association (ABA) Standards Relating to Fair Trial and Free Press.
Abstract
General comments touch on the increasing confrontations between the press and the courts over the news media's attempts to inform the public about events which involve the administration of criminal justice and on the development of the ABA standards. Further attention is given to the intended uses of the standards and their intended audiences--lawyers and court and law enforcement personnel, not the press. Discussion turns to the treatment by the ABA standards of the substance contained in court restrictive orders prohibiting disclosure of information and the procedure by which such orders are promulgated. The development of a procedure for promulgating the orders is documented with examples of surveys taken of the criminal justice community's opinion of procedure designs. The preamble to the recommended court procedure to accommodate rights to fair trial and free press is presented, together with the text outlining the procedure for adoption of standing guidelines regarding the conduct of parties to the case, and for the edification and guidance of the news media regarding pretrial and trial publicity. A procedure for the entry of special orders is also proposed, and a supplemental report of the ABA Legal Advisory Committee on Fair Trial and Free Press is provided.