While I agree with the general thrust of this, what kind of provision would you have in place for those cases which start out public and then either party wishes to go private? Or maybe it would be an idea to have this system for two kinds of cases - public ones for minor offences which may only warrant a warning or the like - and private ones for more serious cases where anything up to a lightning bolt/permanent lock is the maximum sanction?
All cases should be public to an extent. That was the major innovation of the Magistrate system in the first place, so that the community could see the reasoning that went into the decisions being made. I wouldn't be opposed to some sort of option that allows the accuser and accused to remain anonymous, however.
