Respect for a Victim's Privacy during Police Procedure
| Author | Mohammad Farajiha Ghazvini |
| Published date | 01 March 2002 |
| Date | 01 March 2002 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X0207500107 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DR MOHAMMAD FARAJIHA GHAZVINI
Lecturer in Criminal Sociology
and
Criminology, Department
of
Law, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran
RESPECT FOR A VICTIM'S
PRIVACY DURING POLICE
PROCEDURE
Privacy has been an important element in the protection of civil
liberties, used by religious and political dissenters to censor state action
and maintain a sphere of freedom of action by restraining the powers of
the state vis-a-vis the individual. Many countries expressly protect
rights of privacy in their constitutions. However, there is a concrete
quality about the concept of privacy not least in the language of
everyday life which takes for granted personal, internal worlds. Our
relationships with others rest on the recognition of those, and of our
own private identity.
Introduction
Though difficult to define and often abused, the domain of the private
has social meanings the maintenance of which is important for any
society, however organised (Uglow, 1988).
The right to privacy has many applications: it can mean freedom
from snoopers, gossips and busybodies; or being treated by state
officials with a measure of decency and dignity; or being entitled
to indulge in harmless activities without observation or interference
(Robertson, 1993: 104).
The Nordic Conference of Jurists in May 1967 (cited in Robertson)
give a broader definition of the legal field covered by this concept.
According to the conclusions of this conference, the right to privacy
means the right of the individual to lead his or her own life protected
against:
(a) interference with private, family and home life;
(b) interference with physical or mental integrity or moral or
intellectual freedom;
(c) attacks on personal honour or reputation;
(d) being placed in a false light;
(e) the disclosure of irrelevant, embarrassing facts relating to his or
her private life;
(f)
the use of his or her name, identity or likeness;
(g) spying, prying, watching and besetting;
(h) interference with correspondence;
(i) misuse of private communications, written or oral; and
(j) disclosure of information given or received by him or her in
circumstances of professional confidence (Robertson, 1972: 31).
The Police Journal, Volume 75 (2002) 67
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