ac 4.3 - newspaper campaigns

Question 1

Justice for Michael - reasons/background

Answer 1

• wanted to change the year and a day rule that prevented murder charges if a victim of assault survived longer than a day following the attack
• The Northern Echo started this campaign after Michael Gibson died following a 22 month coma and the year and a day rule prevented his attacker from being convicted of a murder charge

Question 2

Justice for Michael - key parties involved

Answer 2

• The Northern Echo
• Pat Gibson, Michael’s mom, also payed a major role in both starting and developing this campaign

Question 3

Justice for Michael - success

Answer 3

Law Reform Act (1966) for the year and a day rule was established

Question 4

Sarah’s law - reasons/background

Answer 4

• was started by the mother of 8-year-old Sarah Payne after she was abducted and murdered by Rory Whiting
• it was later found out that Whiting had previous convictions, of which included the abduction and sexual assault of a young girl
• Sarah’s mom argued that, had she known someone in the local area had past convictions of this nature, she would’ve been more cautious about letting Sarah out in the area on her own

Question 5

Sarah’s law - key parties involved

Answer 5

• ‘The newspaper of the world’ worked with Sarah’s mom to spread awareness of her campaign as this was the national newspaper at the time and also helped to promote a petition that received 700,000 signatures

Question 6

Sarah’s law - success

Answer 6

the child sex offender disclosure scheme was established and brought into effect