When a crime is committed and the suspect is still at large, people want to know three details right away: when and where it happened and what the suspect looks like.
In Thursday’s Metro section, the AJC carried a story about two abductions near the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens that police believe fit a pattern. But one key aspect of the suspect’s description was missing: his race.
That prompted a few readers, including this one, to ask why such an important descriptor was left out.
“I spent 34 years in federal law enforcement and as you know an accurate description in sexual assault crimes of this nature is critical especially in a campus situation or crimes involving children,” wrote reader James Cool in an e-mail. “We all know that suspect identification for ‘conviction’ purposes is often inaccurate however, a precise identification could mean life or death for someone out there when the perpetrators are still at large. Hair color always helps but obviously that can be misinterpreted or easily altered. Let’s not leave anything out (unless the police are requesting it for investigative purposes) intentionally or otherwise.”
According to our story, police described the suspect in both incidents as a man in his 20s with short brown hair, who is about 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 11 inches tall, of medium build, weighing 150 to 190 pounds. The suspect is believed to have been driving a white van with a gray interior and a cooler behind the driver’s seat.
The Red & Black, UGA’s student newspaper, included the suspect’s race. (He is white, according to their report.) The AJC story should have included the suspect’s race. The online version did include this detail. Had the description been less specific, including only his height and weight for instance, omitting the suspect’s race would have been appropriate.
Hair color and length, plus a detailed description of the suspect vehicle, narrows the pool of potential people enough to be helpful. Details such as what the suspect was wearing, whether he has a limp or tattoos can all be crucial. When police sketches are available, they should be published.
According to the AJC stylebook, racial identifications should only be used in stories when relevant. That’s a good rule of thumb, since including a person’s race or ethnic background often only serves to inflame.
Last April, in one of the early ajc.com reports on the Virginia Tech massacre, shooter Seung-Hui Cho was identified as Korean, prompting some readers to ask why that detail was mentioned since he was already dead. Subsequent reports on Cho did not bring up his race except to say that Cho’s family immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 1992. Cho grew up in suburban Virginia and was a citizen of this country. One story and a few letters to the editor dealt with reaction to the shooting from some members of the Korean community.
Several readers have asked AJC editors to include the immigration status of crime suspects. I have mixed feelings about this. For one thing, this information isn’t always immediately known. Such decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, depending on the relevance of this information to the story.
Kell High School student newspaper controversy: Students at Cobb County’s Kell High School got a lesson in First Amendment freedoms after an opinion column in the school newspaper sparked heated debate among students who wondered if it should have been allowed to run.
AJC opinion page editor David Beasley received a copy of the column, which described gay people as “reproductive errors.” Beasley opted not to run it since author Thomas Benjamin didn’t back up his opinion with sound arguments.
While it is commendable that Kell principal Trudy Donovan chose not to censor the article, the publication should have included an opposing view since Benjamin’s opinion was so extreme.
Cobb schools spokesman Jay Dillon said Kell students will have an opportunity to respond to Benjamin’s column in future issues of The Inkwell newspaper.
High school newspapers rarely publish controversial articles and opinions since they are often censored by school officials worried about creating a disruption. In that respect, it was refreshing to see the newspaper take on the topic. But student journalists have the same obligation as professional journalists to exercise freedom of the press responsibly.
