Reference
Glossary
Plain-English definitions for the terms used across this site. If something on the site uses a word that isn't here, please tell us.
- BAILII
- British and Irish Legal Information Institute. Free access to UK and Irish case law and statutes.
- Calls for evidence
- Open invitations from Parliament or government to submit written evidence on a topic before policy or legislation is drafted.
- Centre for Women's Justice (CWJ)
- Legal charity that holds the state to account for failures to protect women and girls. Led the 2020 Super-Complaint on police-perpetrated domestic abuse.
- DARVO
- Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. A pattern identified by Jennifer Freyd (1997) in which a perpetrator denies, attacks the person raising the concern, and recasts themselves as the victim.
- Disclosure failure
- When the prosecution does not disclose evidence to the defence that it is required by law to disclose. A leading cause of wrongful convictions.
- FACETS
- A framework from facets.digital with six lenses for analysing how a story is framed: framing, archetypes, collective belief, expectation, themes, symbolism.
- Find Case Law
- The National Archives' free, official archive of UK judgments (Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, High Court and major tribunals).
- FOI
- Freedom of Information. The right, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, to request recorded information held by public authorities.
- Gross misconduct
- Conduct so serious that, if proven, dismissal without notice could be justified.
- Hansard
- The official verbatim report of proceedings in the UK Parliament.
- HMICFRS
- His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. The independent inspectorate for policing in England and Wales.
- Institutional betrayal
- Term coined by Smith and Freyd (2014) for the harm caused when an institution a person depends on fails to prevent or respond to wrongdoing committed within it.
- IOPC
- Independent Office for Police Conduct. Handles the most serious complaints and conduct matters about police in England and Wales.
- Malicious prosecution
- A civil claim against a prosecutor who brought a case without reasonable and probable cause, and with malice, that ended in the claimant's favour.
- Misconduct
- Conduct that, if proven, would justify disciplinary action under the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020.
- PACE
- Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The framework that governs police powers in England and Wales: stop, search, arrest, detention, interview.
- PEEL
- HMICFRS's framework for inspecting forces: Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy. Each force gets a grade in each area.
- RAG
- Red, Amber, Green status indicator. Used on this site to summarise a monitor at a glance.
- Super-Complaint
- A statutory complaint about a feature, or combination of features, of policing in England and Wales that is harming the public. Brought by designated bodies.
- Trauma-informed
- An approach that recognises the prevalence of trauma and seeks to avoid re-traumatisation in the design of services, communication and process.
- Victim Personal Statement (VPS)
- A statement that a victim of crime can make to the court describing how the crime has affected them.
- VPA
- Victims and Prisoners Act 2024. Sets out the rights of victims of crime in England and Wales, including the Victims' Code.
- WhatDoTheyKnow
- mySociety's free service for sending FOI requests and publishing the responses.