Criminal Law Legislation Update
| Published date | 01 June 2006 |
| Date | 01 June 2006 |
| Author | Sally Ireland |
| DOI | 10.1350/jcla.2006.70.3.186 |
| Subject Matter | Opinion |
Criminal Law Legislation
Update*
Sally Ireland†
Primary legislation
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 has received Royal As-
sent. It extends to England and Wales. Its substantive provisions are not
yet in force. The Act creates several offences, by inserting a new Part 3A
into the Public Order Act 1986. All the offences centre on the concept of
‘religious hatred’, which is defined in new s. 29A of the 1986 Act as
‘hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to religious belief
or lack of religious belief’.
The range of offences is similar to that of the existing offences in Part
3 of the 1986 Act, dealing with the incitement of racial hatred. The
offences cover the use of words or behaviour or display of written
material (s. 29B); publishing or distributing written material (s. 29C);
public performance of a play (s. 29D); distributing, showing or playing a
recording (s. 29E); broadcasting or including a programme in a pro-
gramme service (s. 29F); and possession of inflammatory material
(s. 29G).
Following parliamentary opposition to earlier versions of the legisla-
tion, however, the test for the religious hatred offences is tighter than for
those of racial hatred in two important respects: first, the relevant
words/material/behaviour, etc. must be threatening—language, images
and behaviour that are merely abusive or insulting are not covered by
these provisions. Secondly, the requirement in all cases is that the
person intended to stir up religious hatred—a mere likelihood that this
would be the result is not sufficient.
New s. 29H provides for powers of entry and search; in England and
Wales, if information laid on oath by a constable satisfies a justice of the
peace that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that a person has
possession of written material or a recording in contravention of s. 29G,
a warrant for entry and search by any constable of the premises where
it is suspected the material/recording is situated may be issued. Section
29H gives a constable executing such a warrant the power to use
reasonable force if necessary. ‘Premises’ is defined in s. 29H(4) and
includes vehicles and movable structures.
New s. 29I gives a court by or before which a person is convicted of an
offence under ss 29C, 29E or 29G, or an offence under s. 29B relating to
the display of written material, the power to order the forfeiture of any
written material/recording produced to the court and shown to its
* As at 8 March 2006.
†Senior Legal Officer (Criminal Justice), JUSTICE.
186
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