Sarah's Law

• Sarah's Law is an example of a newspaper campaign which affected policy making.
• Context:

  • Sarah Payne (age 7) went missing in 2000.
  • Her body was found a few weeks later from her disappearance
  • Roy Whiting had kidnapped and killed her. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.  
  • After his conviction it was discovered that he had a previous conviction of kidnapping and indecently assaulting a 8 year old girl.
  • Her mother wanted to change the law on accessing criminal records due to her tragic experience. 
• Media/Methods:

  • media attention of many newspapers, particularly news of the world which gained them most of their popularity 
  • Talked about it directly on tv with Sarah’s speech at the police federation conference
• Success:

  The campaign persuaded the government to introduce the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme throughout England and Wales in 2011.
• Discussion/Limitation

  Although the law enables any member of the public to ask the police if someone in contact with a child has a record of sexual offences, the law can be seen as limited as the police will only disclose this information if they believe that a child is at risk of harm.