The National Justice Museum has appointed Cartwright Communications to support its mission of helping people gain a practical understanding of the law and justice system through a UK-wide campaign.

From April 2017, the Galleries of Justice, a former 14th century courthouse and gaol dating back to 1449 in Nottingham, will combine with the National Centre for Citizenship and the Law (NCCL) to become the National Justice Museum. The City of Caves in Nottingham will also be part of the National Justice Museum.

Cartwright is delivering an integrated communications campaign to provide support both regionally and nationally, communicating the serious role the museum and its education programme plays in reaching over 20,000 young people, encouraging them to recognise the value of social justice, equality and the law.   

Liz Cartwright, managing director of Cartwright Communications, says, “We are delighted to be working with the National Justice Museum for this UK-wide campaign which will combine media relations, on-street activity, and the creation of a whitepaper that will bring the importance of social justice to life."

She continues, “The campaign will ensure the UK public not only recognises the National Justice Museum as a new name for the Galleries of Justice and NCCL, but gets a real sense of its wider educational purpose remit which is incredibly relevant to current social and political affairs.” 

As part of its strategy, the team will be producing a report that explores the question; “does something being legal make it right and does something being illegal make it wrong?” 

Discussing the differences between right and wrong in both a moral and a legal sense, the paper will include commentary on modern slavery, the place of protests in today’s society, how freedom of speech has changed, and the importance of education in relation to social justice. Furthermore, the work will reflect on relevant historic milestones, all of which relate to the museum’s own archive, which at over 40,000 pieces forms the UK’s largest collection of law, justice, crime, and punishment artefacts.

Tim Desmond, chief executive of the National Justice Museum, says, “We were impressed by Cartwright’s approach which was not only creative and incredibly relevant to the mission of the museum, but based on real return on investment and engagement with our ideal audience.”