MPs back UK government's crime bill: What's in it and why its caused controversy

The UK government's flagship crime legislation has been backed in a Commons vote. (359 to 263)

• The maximum sentence for assaulting an emergency worker will be doubled to two years, while a Police Covenant will be enshrined in law to protect serving and retired officers and their families.

• Whole Life Orders for the premeditated murder of a child, which will also allow judges to give the maximum sentence to 18 to 20-year-olds in exceptional cases, such as for acts of terrorism leading to mass loss of life.

• The ability to stop the automatic early release of offenders who pose a danger to the public and scrapping the automatic release halfway through a sentence of serious and violent sexual offenders.

• Widening 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.

• Increasing the maximum penalty for criminal damage to a memorial, from three months to 10 years

One of the provisions of the legislation is giving police forces more powers to tackle "non-violent" protests which are significantly disruptive to the public or on access to parliament.

An offence of "intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance" is included in the bill.

Someone commits this offence if they cause "serious harm to the public", which can include "serious annoyance, serious inconvenience or serious loss of amenity". If convicted, individuals could be hit with a fine or face a prison sentence.

“The maximum sentence for assaulting an emergency worker will be doubled to two years, while a Police Covenant will be enshrined in law to protect serving and retired officers and their families.”

Why is there not “equal justice” against ALL assaults, period? Why are some persons of greater than equal classes that an assault on one of them may result in a different “crime” and different sentence than an assault on someone of a different “class” of assaulted persons?

“Widening position of trust laws to make it illegal for sports coaches and religious leaders to engage in seuxal activity with 16 and 17-year-olds in their care.”

If there are already crimes on the book that make it illegal for adults to engage in sexual activity with 16 and 17 year olds, then why is a separate “crime” needed just because the alleged perpetrator is sports coach or religious leader????

We have the same duplicitousness in U.S. laws, with federal vs state duplication of laws for the same crimes.

And for instance there are special crimes for assualting a “federal” officer vs a local or state “officer” verses a civilian. Is not an assult, period, and if it happens in any state jurisdiction, then is the state incapable of prosecuting just because the person assaulted was a “federal” officer. All we do - here in the U.S. with such cases of common crimes is crowd federal courts with cases that ought to be left to the states, when federal courts should be left to “crimes” that cannot be prosecuted in a state jurisdiction because they are a distinctly & truly “federal” crime, only out of necessity.

"The maximum sentence for assaulting an emergency worker will be doubled to two years..."
Why is there not "equal justice" against ALL assaults, period?
Exactly! It's an admission that the justice system in the UK is failing - and failing for everybody not just for emergency workers.

The socialists here have spent the last 50 years dismantling the justice system, piece by piece.

"[introducing] Whole Life Orders for the premeditated murder of a child" - whatever happened to Life Sentences for premeditated murder anyway??

"The ability to stop the automatic early release of offenders who pose a danger to the public and scrapping the automatic release halfway through a sentence of serious and violent sexual offenders." - why should any violent and dangerous offender be getting automatic release halfway through their sentence???

We are ruled by lunatics!

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