4.3 how campaigns affect policy making

newspaper campaigns

- Sarah's law

Sarah's law

what was it?

a campaign to allow people to ask the police if a convicted sex offender has contact with a specific child

Sarah's law

key people

- news of the world

- Sarah's parents

Sarah's law

why was it introduced?

in 2000, 8 year old Sarah Payne was abducted and murdered by Roy Whiting who had previously been convicted for abducting and indecently assaulting another 8 year old girl 5 years prior

Sarah's law

outcome of campaign

in 2011 the child sex offender disclosure scheme was introduced by the government, also known as Sarah's law, the newspaper campaign helped to influence the government

individual campaigns

- Clare's law

- double jeopardy

Clare's law

what was it?

a campaign to allow women to be able to know about their partner's violent past

Clare's law

why it was introduced?

- in 2009, Clare Wood was beaten, raped and strangled then had her body set on fire by her ex-boyfriend George Appleton who had a history of previous convictions of violence against women

Clare's law

key people

- Michael Brown (Clare's father)

- Michelle Livesey was chief reporter at radio key 103

Clare's law

outcome of the campaign

- in 2014, the domestic violence disclosure scheme was put out to all police forces and gave people the right to ask and the right to know

- the police were not obliged to share the information

- in 2018, 6496 right to ask requests were made and 2575 were granted

- the domestic abuse act 2021, Clare's law is formally known as domestic violence disclosure scheme and became law in 2021

double jeopardy

when a person found by the court not to be guilty of an offence could not be prosecuted again even if new evidence did come to light proving that they did commit the crime they were accused of

double jeopardy

why was a campaign made?

Julie was murdered in 1989 and Billy Dunlop was charged with the crime but two juries failed to come to a verdict so the case was dropped. Dunlop later confessed in 1998 but he could not be charged for that crime so was only charged 6 years for perjury

double jeopardy

key people

Ann Ming campaigned for her daughter

double jeopardy

outcome of campaign

- the 2003 criminal justice act permitted certain crimes to be re-tried

- Dunlop was processed again for murder and pleaded guilty and received a life sentence

- the re-trail can only take place if new and compelling evidence emerges and if the Director of public prosecution consents to a re-trail

pressure group campaigns

- protection against stalking

- inquest

protection against stalking

what is it?

- concluded that the existing law was not fit for purpose and they set up an independent parliamentary enquiry

- the enquiry lasted several months, hearing evidence from victims, relatives, academic experts, lawyers, police and probation officers

- the enquiry heard about the intimidation, fear, physical and psychological harm stalkers inflict and the inadequate response oof authorities

protection against stalking

outcome of the campaign

- the inquiry's report was published in February 2012, with the support of 60 MP's and peers, the police federation and magistrates association

- protection against stalking (PAS) was able to include an amendment bill that was going through parliament and this became the protection of freedom act in 2012, which made stalking a criminal offence

inquest

what was it?

- focuses on state related deaths such as those in police custody, prisons, immigration centres and psychiatric care

- involved inn many inquests into deaths such as the police shooting of Mark Duggan in 2011 which caused the London riots

inquest

aim

- to ensure that investigations into deaths treat bereaved people with dignity and respect

- aims to spread lessons learnt from investigations in order to prevent further deaths, it gathers evidence from its casework, conducts research and uses its information to press public bodies to change their policies

inquest

outcomes of the campaign

- setting up the independent police complaints commission (PCC), which investigates serious complaints and allegations of misconduct against the police

- extending the 2007 corporate manslaughter act to cover deaths in the custody of public authorities (it previously only covered businesses)