Court case results to go online

The government is to make more information about the results of court cases available to the public online in a bid to make legal proceedings more transparent.

The Justice Secretary announced the move over the weekend at the Labour Party conference in Manchester, which would also see newspapers being able to access information about court cases for free.

"It's about a change of culture, of attitude, about lifting the veil which sometimes keeps justice from view: explaining more, hiding less," Jack Straw MP told conference attendees yesterday.

"I'm going to open up the justice system through the power of the internet, with online court records so anyone can see for themselves what happened when someone appears in the dock," he continued.

Straw added that care would be taken to ensure that sensitive cases, such as those that involve the family courts, preserved the privacy and welfare of those involved.

Labour's plan is to attempt to restore the faith of the British public in the criminal justice system, particularly when offenders are sentenced to community service rather than imprisonment.

"When people receive community punishments, the public must literally be able to see them working - so we are introducing high visibility jackets for all those on such sentences," Straw said.

www.labour.org.uk