HC Deb 20 March 1913 vol 50 c1220W
Mr. MORRELL

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been called to the dissatisfaction that is felt at the present practice of allowing full publications of the reports of cases heard in Juvenile Courts; and whether he can see his way to make any regulations on the subject?

Mr. McKENNA

I have received resolutions from three benches of magistrates. I agree with the view expressed by my predecessor, Lord Gladstone, who, in replying to a question in the House of Commons on the 28th July, 1909, said: "The Act expressly provides for the admission of Press representatives in Juvenile Courts. A certain measure of publicity for the proceedings of Courts of Justice seems to me desirable, and this no less for Juvenile Courts than for others. I should view with considerable apprehension a state of things in which no notice was taken in the public Press of the mode in which delinquent children were dealt with by the Courts of Summary Jurisdiction; but I am sure the Press would generally refrain from publishing the names of children in special cases where the magistrates might express an opinion that it was unnecessary and undesirable."