4B Crime : Key Points

Programmes must not contain material that is likely to encourage or incite crime, or lead to disorder.
Programmes should not contain detailed descriptions of criminal techniques that could enable the commission of the crime, unless there is editorial justification.

Confessed or convicted criminals should not be paid (or benefit financially in some other way) for interviews about their crimes unless it is in the public interest to do so.
Any programmes featuring convicted or confessed criminals should be referred to the legal and compliance department for early advice. No payment or commitment to pay a criminal should be made before this has been approved by the commissioning editor and programme lawyer.
In criminal legal proceedings, no payment or promise of payment must be made to a witness or potential witness until proceedings have ceased i.e. the defendant has been convicted or acquitted. Only actual expenditure or loss of earnings necessarily incurred during the making of a programme contribution may be reimbursed.
Where criminal legal proceedings have not commenced but are likely and foreseeable e.g. following an undercover investigation into criminal activity, payments to those who reasonably may be expected to become a witness should only be made if it is in the public interest e.g. the criminal activity could not reasonably have been uncovered without the payment being made.

When reporting on legal proceedings, any under 18s involved must not be identified, even indirectly, where to do so would breach the law. Even when reporting on pre-trial investigations where there is no legal prohibition on identifying under 18s, careful consideration should be given to the position of potentially vulnerable young people and children before identifying them or broadcasting personal details about them. See also 'Contempt and Reporting Legal Proceedings ' at Chapter 5B.

Independent Producer Handbook