What is a Judicial Review?

A Judicial Review, or JR, is another method of holding the police to account.

This is different to a civil claim where you are suing for the actions of an individual officer. Judicial review allows the Courts to scrutinise a decision made by the police (or any other public body) and would look at a policy decision or a command and control decision. For example: a decision to ban a march or to conduct a certain type of operation like kettling or blanket stop and search.

You should always seek the advice of a very experienced solicitor before taking a judicial review, since a negative outcome has the ability to create ‘bad law’ that affects everyone.

If you are applying for ‘judicial review’ you should start your case, as soon as possible and in any event within three months of when you first knew about the decision.