Serious Crime Bill human rights questions

Summary

In this Report ‘Legislative Scrutiny: Fifth progress report‘ (HL 91/HC 490), the Joint Committee on Human Rights draws attention to some human rights compatibility issues concerning the Serious Crime Bill (HL Bill 27).

The main purpose of the Bill is to introduce Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPOs), empowering courts to impose a wide range of prohibitions or requirements in order to prevent harm from serious crime.

The Committee identify three significant human rights issues:

Whether SCPOs amount to the determination of a criminal charge for the purposes of a right to a fair trial in article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights
Whether the standard of proof in proceedings for an SCPO should be the civil or the criminal standard
Whether the power to make SCPOs is defined with sufficient precision to satisfy the requirement that interferences with Convention rights be ‘in accordance with the law’ or ’prescribed by law’.

Found this story interesting?
Spread the news by clicking below to add it to your bookmarking service:

Law-Making Explained

This is a House of Commons Paper and a House of Lords Paper (HLP 91/HC 490 2006-07): it is a Report from the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

Find out more about Select Committees.

How does it affect me?

If you work in law or law enforcement, or are interested in human rights and constitutional issues, this affects you.

The Committee believes most applications for an SCPO are likely to amount to the determination of a criminal charge. Consequently, proceedings should use the criminal standard of proof, not the civil one proposed by the Government, and the Committee recommends the Bill be amended. On the final issue, the Committee wants amendments in order to provide the requisite degree of legal certainty.