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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37600
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If a newspaper/magazine were to receive information relating about a crime committed by a member of the public and are considering publishing this information, then the [section on Privacy in the BBC's Editorial Guidelines](https://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/privacy) would seem to be relevant.

Selected excerpts are:

> The BBC respects privacy and does not infringe it without good reason, wherever in the world it is operating. The Human Rights Act 1998 gives protection to the privacy of individuals, and private information about them, but balances that with a broadcaster's right to freedom of expression.

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> Behaviour: There is less entitlement to privacy where an individual's behaviour is criminal or seriously anti-social.

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> Private behaviour, information, correspondence and conversation should not be brought into the public domain unless there is a public interest that outweighs the expectation of privacy. There is no single definition of public interest. It includes but is not confined to:
> 
> - exposing or detecting crime
> 
> - etc.

This seems to give grounds for publication of the material. That said, if the allegations of criminal behaviour are proved to be unfounded, then you could leave yourself or the magazine or the organisation (college) open to a charge of defamation. But you're already aware of this and so I won't elaborate.

Good luck.

Original score: 4