Overview

The Crime and Policing Bill aims to strengthen laws and police powers related to anti-social behaviour, offensive weapons, sexual offences, child exploitation, stalking, and public order. It introduces new offences, increases penalties for existing crimes, and grants police additional investigative tools.

Description

The bill encompasses several key areas:

• Anti-social Behaviour: Introduces "Respect Orders" targeting adults engaging in anti-social behaviour, modifies youth injunctions, and allows social housing providers to close premises associated with disorder.
• Offensive Weapons: Creates civil penalties for online services that fail to remove unlawful weapons content, increases maximum penalties for offensive weapon offences, and strengthens regulations around the online and remote sale of knives and crossbows.
• Retail Crime: Creates a specific offense for assaulting retail workers, mandating criminal behaviour orders in certain cases, and removes the value threshold for shoplifting to be tried in higher courts.
• Criminal Exploitation of Children: Defines child criminal exploitation as a new offense, introduces Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) prevention orders, and expands the use of such orders to cases where a conviction isn’t secured.
• Sexual Offences: Creates offenses related to child sexual abuse image generators and the possession of advice on creating such images, introduces a mandatory duty to report suspected child sex offences, and strengthens existing laws on voyeurism and exposure.
• Stalking: Allows for Stalking Protection Orders to be issued even when a conviction isn’t obtained, and introduces stalking protection orders on conviction.
• Public Order: Creates new offenses for concealing identity at protests and possessing pyrotechnics at protests, and restricts protests near places of worship.
• Police Powers: Allows police to suspend IP addresses and domain names involved in crime, enables warrantless searches for electronically tracked stolen goods, and introduces drug testing in police detention.
• Other Provisions: Includes provisions on confiscation of criminal assets, management of offenders, and international law enforcement data sharing.

Government Spending

The bill's financial implications are not explicitly stated in the provided text. However, increased enforcement and new programs will likely lead to increased government spending on policing, courts, and related services.

Groups Affected

• Individuals engaging in anti-social behaviour: May face Respect Orders or injunctions.
• Individuals possessing or selling offensive weapons: Face increased penalties.
• Online service providers: Subject to civil penalties for failing to remove unlawful content.
• Retail workers: Benefit from stronger legal protection against assault.
• Children at risk of criminal exploitation: Benefit from CCE prevention orders.
• Victims of sexual offences: Benefit from increased reporting and stronger legal protections.
• Victims of stalking: Benefit from Stalking Protection Orders.
• Protestors: May face new offenses related to concealing identity and pyrotechnics.
• Police forces: Gain increased powers of investigation and enforcement.
• Individuals suspected of drug misuse: Subject to drug testing in police detention.

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