Justice by postcode
Nov 24, 2005 Justice & Courts
I worked for several weeks examining data from the Crown Prosecution Service, which resulted in a package in yesterday’s Times newspaper.
The package comprises:
Front page story: Justice by Postcode: the lottery revealed
Inside detail: Prosecutors in dock over disparity in convictions
Graphic: CPS data region by region
Legal Editor’s Briefing: Reforms are essential as the CPS [...]
Article: Justice by Postcode
Nov 24, 2005 Articles
Justice by postcode: the lottery revealed
The Times, 23 November 2005
By Sean O’Neill, Frances Gibb and Heather Brooke
Criminal suspects are up to eight times more likely to go free in some parts of the country than others because of a postcode system of justice, The Times can disclose.
A detailed analysis of the work of [...]
Article: Prosecution rates by area
Nov 24, 2005 Articles
Prosecutors in dock over disparity in convictions
The Times, 23 November 2005
By Sean O’Neill and Heather Brooke
The Crown Prosecution Service’s own data on the outcome of cases reveals huge variations in performance by its lawyers and administrators across England and Wales.
The Times obtained the data through a freedom of information request which led to the [...]
Police Secrecy
Nov 17, 2005 Articles
The secret policeman has a ball
The Times, Thunderer, 17 November 2005
By Heather Brooke
When I was a reporter in the US, one of the first things I did was ride along with a local cop. I was in South Carolina – hardly the progressive policing capital of America – where it was perfectly normal for members [...]
Binge lawmaking
Nov 2, 2005 Articles
We don’t need new terror laws
The Independent, 2 November 2005
By Heather Brooke
Politicians are stumbling around Parliament, giddy from binge lawmaking. Each week, another new law is introduced to give the police state more power, and the public even less. Today the House of Commons debates the Government’s new terror laws. But what is the point [...]
FOI in Parliament: 18-31 October 2005
Nov 2, 2005 FOI in Parliament
31 October 2005
Written Answers – Health: Patient Records
Tim Loughton (East Worthing & Shoreham, Con): To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list hospital trusts which send confidential patient records abroad for processing.
Liam Byrne: …I understand that the trust has followed guidelines published by the *Information Commissioner* and the European Commission relating [...]
