It is a feature of the age we live in, an age in which almost everything leaves a digital imprint, that the worst thing about a person often becomes the thing that defines them. Of course, it a feature of any age really, but the modern world accelerates and consolidates the process.

Once upon a time you might escape continued censure in your hometown or village by simply leaving. Moreover, records were more easily destroyed or damaged, and certainly not so well documented, so convictions for various offences might be lost or may never get much beyond the local area. An adulterer in one town might become a shining example in another. Chances are that you could flee your past and make a new present if you had the will to do so.

The current era permits no such luxury. There are copies of copies of just about everything that is likely to condemn a person to a lifetime of labelling. You may have led a blameless life apart from that one murder (say, a crime of passion)- but you will forever be known as John Smith, the murderer. If you are caught out in any way, no matter how out-of-character the offence may be, then that plaque of condemnation will be around your neck. It happens all the time in the presentation of the news, quite unfairly, in my estimation.

It has nothing to do with informing the reader or viewer, and much more to do with titillation and sensationalism. People deserve the opportunity to redeem themselves and if they do, then their past should be of no consequence.