I agree with Bill O'Connor's recommendation in the Sept. 27 edition that the Cape Gazette refrain from naming juvenile suspects under the age of 18 "and exposing highly vulnerable children to undue and potentially harsh public notoriety."
The three suspects in the article at hand are charged with a truly horrendous attack on an 80-year-old woman and there is no doubt that the community needs to know about this. The community benefits as well from the psychiatric report which described one of the suspect's totally failed family environment because it helps explain how something like this can happen.
The Cape editor's note makes these points which Bill never challenged. The central question Bill raised is: what important public good is served by naming these juveniles?
The editor's note failed to address this central question and instead noted that they waited until the police report where they were named and arrested. This satisfies the journalists requirement for accuracy, but still does not address Bill's central recommendation in which I concur.
Mac McMahon
Lewes
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