Update, 14/10/16 : On 14 October 2016, Ched Evans was found not guilty of rape following a retrial. This article was published before this new verdict.
Some excellent commentary has also been written on the implications of this reaction. Julian Norman at the F-Word is well worth reading:
This is rape culture. A culture in which a convicted rapist is described as “that poor man” and his imprisonment attracts sympathy, while the victim is treated as though her rape was her own fault, or, weirdly, as though she had orchestrated the attack on her for some supposed benefit.
Elsewhere, Amanda Bancroft at Comment is Free has written an excellent piece on the implications:
Does it raise questions about the adequacy of the criminal justice system?
Broadly speaking, law isn’t a shield to prevent a bad thing happening – it cannot stop people behaving in a certain way; it can only prescribe a punishment or remedy should people behave in a certain way. Our modern digital world enables us to see more easily behaviour we knew existed. The criminal law exists because we recognise the potential for people to commit the behaviour.
It has been reported that North Wales Police is collating the relevant information. What they do with it remains to be seen. Certainly, revelaing the name of a victim goes well beyond an issue of freedom of speech.
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