Jurors knew of previous convictions

The Herald reports that some jurors have told a a relative of Brad Shipton that they did know of teh Mt Maunganui convictions.

I am not surprised. At the time of the trial, it was obvious that Shipton and Schollum were two of the accused. And those who didn’t work it out at the time would probably have heard about it after the Louise Nicholas verdict.

The article has people debating the pros and cons of allowing previous convictions to be known to the jury, and there are arguments either way.

However I am surprised that no-one mentioned the major reason that suppressing previous convictions should be stopped – it does not work. In the Internet age especially, suppression orders are like trying to stop a dam leak with a finger.

So if jurors are going to learn about the previous convictions anyway, why not have them told officially, but also told not to place reliance on it. Trying to suppress information just doesn’t work anymore.