Media regulation strategies to mitigate violence against children who are publicly ‘named and shamed’

In the context of the already contradictory socio-legal positioning of children, sensationalist and punitive representations of children in conflict with the law perpetuate detrimental social constructions of childhood. Comprising analyses of historical and contemporary case studies from the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, this chapter identifies instances in which the interplay between the media and the law bears discriminatory and detrimental effects for children. It demonstrates how punitive youth justice policies are often grounded in long established socially constructed notions of childhood and children, by analysing the nexus between rhetorical violence against children and the normalisation of various forms of violence against children – including against vulnerable children enmeshed in the criminal justice system. Comprising media content analysis and analysis of interviews with children and their advocates, the chapter identifies that pejorative media representations of children amplify social tensions and, where children are publicly identified, they are exposed to harm and violence. It also explores deficiencies within the media regulatory framework. The chapter concludes by making specific recommendations about legal and policy reform in order to better regulate principled media practices and ethical journalism with respect to children in conflict with the law.