The Crime and Policing Bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords, seeking to introduce a concept into protest regulation that was previously attempted by Suella Braverman.
Appeal Denied for Protesters re Convictions Under New s 7 Power of the Public Order Act 2023
Following a slow march protest on Earl’s Court Road in London in November 2023, three Just Stop Oil (JSO) protesters were convicted of an offence under s 7 Public Order Act 2023 (POA 23).[1] This is the offence of interfering with key national infrastructure – for more information about this offence see here. For the purposes of this protest, […]
The Looming Landmine of s 281(5): Doubling maximum sentences.
What is Section 281(5)? Lurking amongst many criminal offences, ready to be triggered by a commencement regulation, are references to s.281(5) Criminal Justice Act 2003. This section extends the maximum sentence for summary offences, whose previous (or rather current) maximum was 6 months, to 51 weeks. The relevant part reads as follows: (4) Subsection (5) applies to any summary offence […]
The JSO Five and the Breaking of Hoffman’s Bargain
It is odd, given the long history that civil disobedience has in the UK, that Hoffman’s Bargain has been given such short shrift with not so much as a sideward glance.
Criminal Damage Defence Guidance Handed Down by Court of Appeal
Attempting to link arguments of proximity to possessiveness in relation to ‘circumstances’ so that it may relate to the wording of the legislation is artificial, complicated, and unclear.
A Rare Case of Unreasonably Restricting Protest
It is also not only protesters or police who may struggle with this new definition – the factors that Judge Laws considered regarding disruption in this case were telling.
Are the mass arrests of Just Stop Oil Protesters lawful?
Entry into the road now appears to be a blanket cause for arrest in of itself. Repeating this day in and day out, regardless of the number of protesters actually charged, results in the protesters never actually protesting or causing any disruption at all – which is the outcome the police appear to be seeking.
Met’s first use of new public order power against Just Stop Oil
The Met have made use of s.7 of the Public Order Act 2023 for the first time yesterday. From their Twitter feed they announced that they had ‘put in a section 7’.[1] Ignoring the fact that s.7 is not something that can be ‘put in’ for a moment, the use of this power is an important moment in the policing […]
