[Diggers350] Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill (2021)
Tony Gosling
tony at cultureshop.org.uk
Tue Mar 16 13:35:34 GMT 2021
What are the most controversial parts of the
Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill?
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/police-bill-anti-protest-law-23725500
http://tlio.org.uk/what-are-the-most-controversial-parts-of-the-police-crime-sentencing-and-courts-bill/
TEARING UP THE POST WAR SETTLEMENT - THE 1948
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS - Police
State UK Criminalising Protest & Homelessness:
MPs Are Bringing In Priti Patel's Police Crime
Sentencing & Courts Bill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su20v4pop2o
Police can impose more conditions on protests
Clause 55 will let police impose start and finish
times and maximum noise levels on a wider range
of protests in England and Wales.
Officers will be able to do this if they believe
the noise may result in serious disruption to
the activities of an organisation nearby.
The power is not limited in the law to noise
levels or start times - a police officer can take
such conditions as appear necessary to that
officer to prevent disorder, damage, disruption, impact or intimidation.
The Home Office argue this is simply widening
powers that already exist for moving marches to
cover static protests as well. But civil
liberties groups say noise and disruption are a
key part of making your voice heard.
It will be up to the Home Secretary - currently
Priti Patel - to decide the definition of serious disruption.
Serious annoyance will carry up to 10 years jail
Clause 59 will axe the common law definition of
public nuisance and replace it with a clear set of words agreed by Parliament.
It will make it a crime to intentionally or
recklessly cause public nuisance without a reasonable excuse.
Offenders will get up to a years jail from
magistrates or 10 years from a crown court judge
if found guilty, in the worst cases.
The government insists this is simply taking the
current definition of public nuisance and putting
it on a proper footing. This will provide
clarity to the police and potential offenders,
giving clear notice of what conduct is forbidden, the Home Office said.
But there is not a clear list of reasonable
excuses - the government just say defendants
will have to prove that excuse existed in court,
on the balance of probabilities.
And two words in this clause have attracted a lot of interest.
Someone will fall foul of the law if they have
caused a person serious distress, serious
annoyance, serious inconvenience or serious loss
of amenity. How will serious annoyance be interpreted by police?
Most loudhailers will be banned outside Parliament
Clause 57 will hugely expand the controlled
area outside Parliament, where tents and
unauthorised loudspeakers or megaphones are banned.
Currently the area only covers the garden and
footpaths in the middle of Parliament Square,
with other roads around it not under any special anti-protest law.
But the Bill will expand this controlled area to
several roads around Parliament after a number of
demos stopped traffic. These roads are Canon Row,
Parliament Street, Derby Gate, Parliament Square
and part of Victoria Embankment.
Those who disobey can be fined up to £5,000.
A similar move was recommended by Parliaments
Joint Committee on Human Rights, which warned
access to parliament must not be obstructed after
a wave of threats against MPs.
However, opposition has united critics from
Richard Tice, leader of Nigel Farages
anti-lockdown Reform UK party, to Tom Brufatto,
former lead organiser of the Peoples Vote
marches against <https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/brexit>Brexit.
In an open letter today they say: As long as
laws are made in Parliament, then British people
must have a legal right to protest them in
Parliament Square. Democracy is not an
'inconvenience'. Public opposition and dissent
are among the hard-won rights that make our democratic and like-minded groups.
One-person protests face a crackdown
One-man anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray (Image: Jeff Mitchell)
Clause 60 has already been dubbed the Steve
Bray law, after the man who spent years shouting Stop Brexit! at Parliament.
It will give senior police the power to impose
any conditions they see fit on a one-person
protest to avoid disruption or impact.
This can only be done if they believe the noise
that person is making may result in serious
disruption to the activities of an organisation
which are carried on in the vicinity of the protest.
But once again, Home Secretary Priti Patel will
be able to define this serious disruption.
One-man-bands who knowingly refuse to comply with
police orders can be fined up to £2,500. Someone
who incites the one-person protest not to
comply could be jailed for up to 51 weeks.
Ardent Remainer AC Grayling tweeted: It's a
great honour to Steve Bray, and an unmistakable
sign of the weakness, pettiness, illiberality and
unintelligence of this Brexiter 'government',
that it seeks to pass a Bill that singles him out.
He has humiliated and stung them and they want
to shut him up; he should be knighted.
Is the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill fit for purpose?
YesNo
Defacing a statue will carry up to 10 years jail
Clause 46 will raise the maximum penalty for
criminal damage to a memorial or statue from three months to 10 years.
Currently judges and magistrates have to base
their sentence on the monetary value of the
damage. In future they will be able to look at
the emotional and symbolic value of the damaged
statue too, said minister Kit Malthouse.
The Tories are doing this in a culture war
after statues including Winston Churchills were
attacked or damaged with graffiti.
No10 insisted the focus would be on vile things
like anti-Semitic graffiti or attacks on
gravestones, war memorials, memorials to people whove been murdered.
But thats not quite how it was trailed in
right-wing newspapers. The issue has prompted
anger from Labour, who say the move is a
distraction and will in theory mean longer
sentences for attacking statues than some attacks on women.
People in protest camps can be jailed for three months
Clause 60 will create a new offence of residing
on land without consent in or with a vehicle.
This could affect protest camps like Extinction
Rebellion, as the law will apply even if their
residing is only temporary, and will apply
equally to common land and private land.
Protesters can be ordered to leave by police if
they are deemed to be causing significant
disruption, or even if they havent caused
disruption yet but it is deemed likely in future.
If they refuse, they can be fined up to £2,500 or
jailed for up to three months.
Police will also be given more powers to remove
unauthorised encampments on roads.
A petition signed by more than 130,000 people
warned criminalising trespass would be an
extreme, illiberal and unnecessary attack on
ancient freedoms, adding: For a thousand years,
trespass has been a civil offence.
Critics say the law threatens not only protests,
but also wild camping, ramblers, new rights of way and Traveller communities.
What else is in the Bill?
The plans include new laws to reform sentencing,
the courts and the management of offenders, as
well as more powers and protections for the
police, some of which will be UK-wide while
others may only apply in England and Wales.
All these could in theory still be approved by
MPs later, while removing the bits on protest, if
the Bill passes second reading.
* Whole Life Orders for premeditated murder of a child
* Maximum sentence to 18 to 20-year-olds in
exceptional cases, like for acts of terrorism leading to mass loss of life.
* Powers to halt the automatic early release
of offenders who pose a danger to the public
* Ending the automatic release halfway
through a sentence of serious violent and sexual offenders.
* Life sentences for killer drivers.
* Expanding position of trust laws to make it
illegal for sports coaches and religious leaders
to engage in sexual activity with 16 and 17-year-olds in their care.
* Officers could also be allowed to stop and
search people more if plans for serious violence reduction orders go ahead.
* Legal duty on councils, police, criminal
justice bodies, health and fire services to
tackle serious violence and share intelligence.
* Deaf people could sit on juries for the first time.
What does it do for women whove suffered violence?
There are some limited clauses, such as ending
early release for serious sexual offenders. But
Labour have complained the Bill does not do enough to help women.
Shadow domestic violence minister Jess Phillips
said: The Bill is full of divisive nonsense like
locking up those who damage statues for longer
than those who attack women. Now is a moment to
change the criminal justice system so it works
for women, not to try and divide the country.
Shadow Justice Secretary
<https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/david-lammy>David
Lammy said: In the 20 schedules, 176 clauses and
296 pages of the Conservatives' Police, Crime,
Sentencing and Courts Bill, "women" are not mentioned even once.
Police minister Kit Malthouse insisted the
government had taken steps to protect women.
He said: The domestic abuse bill, which is an
extensive bill that will significantly enhance
our ability to confront domestic violence and
abuse is just finishing its passage through the
House and contains enormous provisions to help us with that fight.
The Domestic Abuse Bill is currently in its
report stage in the House of Lords - one of the
later steps towards it becoming law.
But it has taken three years to get this far -
having been delayed in coming to a vote by two successive General Elections.
What is Labours position?
Labour will vote against the entire Bill at
second reading. If that succeeded (it wont) it
would kill off the entire Bill at the first hurdle.
Realistically, its likely Labour will then try
to amend the most controversial bits of the Bill
while supporting other bits of it.
The party says it supports several measures
contained within the bill, including proposals on
dangerous driving, increased sentences for
terrorists and other dangerous offenders, a
police covenant, reform to criminal records and
closing the loophole to criminalise sexual abuse
by people in positions of trust.
The Tories claimed Labour was voting against
tougher sentences for child murderers, sex
offenders, killer drivers. While Labour is
voting against the Bill at its first hurdle, this
characterisation is misleading to the point of being untrue.
Shadow Domestic Violence Minister Jess Phillips
responded: This is a disgusting and untrue
statement. The Conservative Governments Bill
does absolutely nothing currently to increase
sentences for rapists, stalkers, or those who
batter, control and abuse women. It does nothing
about street harassment and assaults.
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'From South America, where payment must be made
with subtlety, the Bormann organization has made
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commercial world, in contrast to the fanciful
nonsense with which Nazis are described in so much literature.
So much emphasis is placed on select Jewish
participation in Bormann companies that when
Adolf Eichmann was seized and taken to Tel Aviv
to stand trial, it produced a shock wave in the
Jewish and German communities of Buenos Aires.
Jewish leaders informed the Israeli authorities
in no uncertain terms that this must never happen
again because a repetition would permanently
rupture relations with the Germans of Latin
America, as well as with the Bormann
organization, and cut off the flow of Jewish
money to Israel. It never happened again, and the
pursuit of Bormann quieted down at the request of
these Jewish leaders. He is residing in an
Argentinian safe haven, protected by the most
efficient German infrastructure in history as
well as by all those whose prosperity depends on his well-being.'
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