The Naming of Names

Many years ago, in the West, newspapers had headlines such as, 'Heinous Murderer William "Billy the Kid" Bonny captured by police.' (Billy the Kid was a soldier fighting on the losing side in the Lincoln County Range War, and the newspaper in question was owned by the other side, and desired a rapid trial, conviction, and execution, not necessarily in that order.)

Eventually, in the interest of justice, determination of guilt was restricted to the courts, so American newspapers could only say, 'Alleged Murderer Ted Bundy Indicted.' British newspapers are even more circumspect, writing, 'Dr. Crippen Is Helping Police with their Enquiries.'

After conviction, however, the murder is legally established, and the newspapers are free to write, 'Heinous Murderer Ted Bundy Sentenced to Death.'

In the UAE, news of a murder usually appears in the form: 'Woman found murdered. Police investigators ascertained the identity of the murderer, and M. was convicted by the Court of First Instance, and his conviction has been confirmed by the Cassation Court.'

The UAE newspaper reports of the murder, assuming the body wasn't observed by a large number of people, usually come out about a year later, after the arrest, trial, conviction, appeal, and final confirmation of the conviction. And the murderer is never identified.

So, in most of the stories in this blog, I follow the UAE tradition that there be no names, or 'The names have been changed to protect the innocent.' (Not to mention the guilty.)

In my previous posts, however, I felt that the perpetrators posed a sufficient danger that people should be warned, so I gave the full names of the people involved, and the name of the 'Institute for Strategy and Complexity Management,' as a public service.

Unlike the UAE murderers who are incarcerated for life, and who therefore pose no further threat to society, Dr. Max Nyiri and Mr. Jan Hussing are, to my knowledge, still running around loose.

And my friend's son keep calling Mr. Jan and offering to do more work for him, against overwhelming odds that he'll ever receive any compensation for his efforts.