ac 4.3

• Newspapers can play an important role in policy making, especially through campaigning to change the law
• The News of the World's role


  The newspaper's support was central to the campaign's success. It 'named and shamed' fifty people it claimed were paedophiles and promised to continue until it had revealed the identity of every paedophile in Britain.
• The campaign eventually succeeded in persuading the government to introduce the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme throughout England and Wales in 2011
• The Northern Echo's role


  The newspaper launched the Justice for Michael campaign, urging its readers to sign a petition demanding that the year and a day rule be scrapped
• In 1994, the local MP introduced a bill into the House of Commons to scrap the year and a day rule, but it was narrowly defeated. However, following the delivery of the Northern Echo's petition to the Law Commission, a bill was passed by Parliament to become the 1996 Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act
• Many campaigns that are later taken up by newspapers, politicians and pressure groups are started by a lone individual who feels strongly enough about a particular policy to take action themselves
• In 2013, the government introduced a pilot scheme of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS), which was rolled out across all 43 police forces in England and Wales in 2014
• The 2003 Criminal Justice Act was the result of Ann Ming's successful campaign to change the double jeopardy law, which permitted certain serious crimes to be re-tried if new and compelling evidence emerged
• In 2012, the Protection of Freedoms Act made stalking a criminal offence, following a campaign by the pressure group Protection Against Stalking
• The pressure group INQUEST campaigns to ensure that investigations into state-related deaths treat bereaved people with dignity and respect, and to spread the lessons learnt from investigations in order to prevent further deaths
• Double jeopardy rule


  If two juries fail to reach a verdict, prosecutors drop the case
• In 1998, Dunlop was jailed for a savage attack on a former lover and while in prison admitted to a prison officer that he had also murdered Julie Hogg
• Dunlop was convicted of having committed perjury (lying under oath) at his trial for Julie's murder and sentenced to six years' imprisonment
• No action could be taken in relation to the murder itself because of the double jeopardy rule
• Ann Ming's campaign


  Wishing to see Dunlop convicted of her daughter's murder, Ann Ming campaigned for a change to the law, lobbying politicians and using the press, TV and radio to influence government policies
• The 2003 Criminal Justice Act was the result of Ann Ming's successful campaign
• The 2003 Criminal Justice Act


  • It permitted certain serious crimes to be re-tried, including murder, manslaughter, rape, kidnapping, major drug offences and armed robbery
  • The re-trial can only take place if 'new and compelling evidence' emerges and if the Director of Public Prosecutions gives the go-ahead
  • Only one re-trial is permitted
• Calls for a change in the rule were also supported by Sir William Macpherson in his report on the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence
• Police mishandling of the investigation had resulted in a failed prosecution of three of the five original suspects in 1996
• Subsequently, new DNA evidence emerged to link one of the three, Gary Dobson, to the killing. Dobson was re-tried and convicted of the murder, along with another suspect, David Norris, who had not been tried in 1996
• Protection Against Stalking (PAS) campaign


  Launched a campaign to introduce a new law making stalking a specific offence, as the existing 1997 anti-harassment law did not refer specifically to stalking
• One estimate puts the number of victims at 120,000 a year
• In some cases, stalking leads to physical attacks and even deaths, such as the case of Claire Bernal who was shot dead by her stalker in 2005
• Attitude of the justice system


  The way the police were dealing with stalking was inadequate and haphazard, they lacked a clear policy and investigations were often left to individual officers' discretion, victims were not being taken seriously and there were only 70 prosecutions in ten years under the 1997 Act
• PAS concluded that the existing law was not fit for purpose
• PAS campaign


  1. Set up an independent parliamentary inquiry, persuading MPs and peers (members of the House of Lords) from all parties to serve on it

  2. The inquiry lasted several months, hearing evidence from victims and their relatives, academic experts, lawyers, police and probation officers
• The inquiry's report was published in February 2012 with the support of 60 MPs and peers, the Police Federation and the Magistrates' Association
• PAS were able to get support from MPs to include an amendment to a bill that was going through Parliament, which became the Protection of Freedoms Act in April 2012 and made stalking a criminal offence
• Reasons for success of PAS campaign

  • The campaign succeeded in getting the law changed for the voices of victims to be heard and their experiences to be taken seriously
• INQUEST aims to spread the 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
• Successful campaigns for policy changes by INQUEST


  • Setting up the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC)
  • Extending the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter Act to cover deaths in the custody of public authorities
• INQUEST continues to campaign for changes, including equal funding for bereaved families at inquests into state-related deaths and a 'Hillsborough Law' to make it a crime for senior police officers to cover up institutional and individual failures