Rethinking Crime, Harm, and Corporate Responsibility: Lessons from the Post Office Scandal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4409.2025.14.14Keywords:
The Post Office Scandal, Zemiology, harm, corporate crime, sub-postmasters, miscarriage of justiceAbstract
The Post Office Scandal is recognised as one of the most significant miscarriages of justice in British legal history. Using a conceptual review grounded in Zemiological theory this article explores the scandal, arguing that traditional frameworks of criminology fail to capture the full scope of corporate crime. The article begins by tracing the origins of the scandal to the flawed implementation of the Horizon IT system, examining how institutional failures by Fujitsu, the Post Office and the UK Government enabled two decades of systemic injustice. It then applies the theory of Zemiology to challenge dominant constructions of crime, highlighting how the pursuit of profit and poor corporate governance permitted a range of ontological harms to sub-postmasters. The role that inadequate safeguarding in private prosecutions played in the scandal is then considered, drawing comparison to the practices of the RSPCA. Lastly, the article considers the enduring legacy of the scandal and questions whether institutional trust can be rebuilt. The article concludes that whilst reparations and reforms have been made, the Post Office Scandal has caused irreparable damage to the integrity of trusted institutions.
References
Animal Welfare Act 2006, s51. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/45/section/51 (Accessed on 30 March 2025)
Broadbent, Jane and Laughlin, Richard. (2005) ‘The Role of PFI in the UK Government’s Modernisation Agenda’, Financial accountability & management, 21(1), pp. 75–97. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0267-4424.2005.00210.x
‘Bates v Post Office Ltd’ (2019) England and Wales High Court, Judiciary UK. Available at: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/bates-v-post-office-judgment.pdf (Accessed 29 March 2025)
Child, John and Rogers, Johnathon. (2024), Why the Post Office was able to bring private prosecutions in the Horizon IT scandal, The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/ why-the-post-office-was-able-to-bring-private-prosecutions-in-the-horizon-it-scandal-220959 (Accessed on: 28 March 2025)
Christie, James. (2022) ‘The Post Office IT scandal –why IT audit is essential for effective corporate governance’, Digital Evi-dence and Electronic Signature Law Review, 19, pp. 42-86. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14296/deeslr.v19i0.5425
Coleman, Charley. (2025). Post Office Horizon IT scandal: Progress of compensation. House of Lords Library. Available at: https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/post-office-horizon-it-scandal-progress-of-compensation/#fn-45 (Accessed on: 30 March 2025)
CPS (2024) Private Prosecutions. Available at: https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/private-prosecutions (Accessed 27 March 2025).
CPS (2018) The Code for Crown Prosecutors. Available at: https://www.cps.gov.uk/publication/code-crown-prosecutors (Accessed on 29 March 2025).
Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, s.3. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/25/section/3 (Accessed 28 March 2025).
Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, s.26. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/25/section/26 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/25/section/3 (Accessed 28 March 2025).
Darlington, Sian. (2024) Understanding the role of the law in the Post Office scandal part 2: the role of a prosecutor, gunnercooke. Avaliable at: http://gunnercooke.com/understanding-the-role-of-the-law-in-the-post-office-scandal-part-2-the-role-of-a-prosecutor/ (Accessed on 30 March 2025)
Department for Business and Trade (2025). Horizon Convictions Redress Scheme (HCRS): assessment framework. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/horizon-convictions-redress-scheme-hcrs-assessment-framework/horizon-convictions-redress-scheme-hcrs-assessment-framework (Accessed on 30 March 2025).
GOV UK (2025). Government to take over redress for convicted postmasters from Post Office. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-take-over-redress-for-convicted-postmasters-from-post-office (Accessed on 30 March 2025).
Growns, Bethany, Kukucka, Jeff, Moorhead, Richard, and Helm K. Rebecca. (2024) ‘The Post Office Scandal in the United Kingdom: Mental health and social experiences of wrongly convicted and wrongly accused individuals’, Legal and criminological psychology. 29 (1), pp.17–31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12247
House of Commons Business and Trade Committee (2025), Post Office and Horizon scandal redress: Unfinished business. Available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/46112/documents/230204/default/ (Accessed on: 30 March 2025).
House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (2016), Animal welfare in England: domestic pets. Available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmenvfru/117/117.pdf (Accessed on 30 March 2025)
House of Commons Justice Committee (2020), Private prosecutions: safeguards. Available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/2823/documents/27637/default/ (Accessed on: 28 March 2025)
Loeb, Josh. (2024), ‘RSPCA Criticised over Prosecution Decision’, Veterinary Record, 195 (12), pp. 477–477. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.5018
Mason, Dave. (n.d.) The Post Office Horizon Scandal: Has Trust Already Crumbled?, Mentor Training, Available at: https://mentormediatraining.co.uk/news/post-office-scandal/ (Accessed on 30 March 2025)
Ministry of Justice (2025), Quashed convictions management information: 13 March 2025. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-office-horizon-system-offences-act-2024-quashed-convictions-management-information/quashed-convictions-management-information-13-march-2025 (Accessed on 30 March 2025).
NPCC (2024). “Our ongoing goal is the pursuit of justice.”. Available at: https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/our-ongoing-goal-is-the-pursuit-of-justice (Accessed on 31 March 2025)
Pemberton, Simon. (2015) Harmful societies: understanding social harm. Bristol, England ; Policy Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46692/9781847427960
Pearce, Frank. (2009), ‘Crime and Capital business Organisations’, in Whyte, David. Crimes of the powerful: a reader. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Open University Press.
Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry (2023) Sub-postmasters, family members and others invited to attend Inquiry engagement session, Available at: https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/news/sub-postmasters-family-members-and-others-invited-attend-inquiry-engagement-session (Accessed on: 30 March 2025)
Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry (2025a), Volume 1 of the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry’s final report, Available at: https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/volume-1-post-office-horizon-it-inquirys-final-report (Accessed on: 13 July 2025)
Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry (2025b) What’s next for the Inquiry? Available at: https://www.postofficehorizoninquiry.org.uk/ (Accessed on: 30 March 2025)
Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act 2024, Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/14 (Accessed on: 30 March 2025)
Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/23/1991-02-01 (Accessed: 28 March 2025)
Rothe, Dawn and Kauzlarich, David. (2016) Crimes of the powerful: an introduction. London: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315756776
RSPCA (2025) ‘Prosecuting animal cruelty and neglect. Available at: https://www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/endcruelty/prosecution (Accessed on 30 March 2025)
Tombs, Steve (2018), ‘For Pragmatism and Politics: Crime, Social Harm and Zemiology’, in Boukli, A and Kotzé, J. Zemiology : Reconnecting Crime and Social Harm. Palgrave Macmillan, pp.11-31. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76312-5_2
The Bar Council (2024) Bar Council calls for review of private prosecution powers. Available at: https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/resource/bar-council-calls-for-review-of-private-prosecution-powers-press-release.html (Accessed 26 March 2025)
The Royal Commission on Criminal Procedure (1981), Available at: https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/royal_commission_on_criminal_procedure-report.pdf (Accessed on: 29 March 2025)
Wallis, Nick (2022) The Great Post Office Scandal, Bath: Publishing Ltd.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Policy for Journals/Articles with Open Access
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post links to their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work
Policy for Journals / Manuscript with Paid Access
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Publisher retain copyright .
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post links to their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work .
