Criminology: AC4.3 - JC Flashcards
How campaigns affect policy development
Campaigns may seek to change the following:
- Policy
- Law
- Priorities of political agendas
- Funding
- Awareness
- Attitude
What are campaigns for change?
Campaigns relate to a set of planned activities that people carry out over a period of time and they are created in the hopes of creating a ‘change’.
Definition of a pressure group
Pressure groups are organisations that try to influence government policies in the interests of a particular cause. They play an important part in policy making, both by gaining public support for change and by persuading the politicians who make the laws when change is needed.
Pressure group examples
- Greenpeace
- Make Votes Matter
- RSPB
- Just Stop Oil
Pressure group – Protection Against Stalking
In 2011, Protection Against Stalking (PAS) launched a campaign to introduce a new making stalking a specific offence.
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.
One estimate put the number of victims of stalking on average per year at 120,000
Pressure group –
Protection Against Stalking
PAS concluded that the existing law was not fit for purpose.
PAS set up an independent parliamentary inquiry, persuading MPs and peers from all parties to serve on it.
The inquiry lasted several months, hearing evidence from victims and their relatives, academic experts, lawyers, police and probation officers.
This campaign was a success, and the report was published in February 2012 with the support of 60 MPs and peers, the Police Federation and the Magistrates’ Association.
This became the Protection of Freedoms Act in 2012 and made stalking a criminal offence.
Pressure group - INQUEST
They campaigned to ensure that investigations into deaths treat bereaved people with dignity and respect.
They aim to ensure state institutions are held accountable when they fail to safeguard those in their care.
INQUEST have had successful campaigns such as the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which investigates complaints and misconduct against the police.
