The Crime and Policing Bill, was introduced in the House of Commons on 25 February 2025. Its stated purpose is to support the delivery of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls (“VAWG”) in a decade, as well as to support neighbourhood policing and increase public confidence in the police by creating new police powers in relation to anti-social behaviour, crime and terrorism and introducing reforms to ensure law enforcement agencies perform their role to the highest of standards.
Specific concerns JUSTICE has regarding the Bill include:
- Sentence inflation and offence duplication:
New offences (e.g., assaulting retail workers) and behavioural control orders duplicate existing laws. This would place further strain on the criminal justice system, which the 2024 Independent Sentencing Review warned nearly collapsed due to overcapacity last summer. It could also create operational challenges for authorities regarding which penalties are most appropriate.
Additionally, according to the impact assessment, the Bill will increase prison demand by at least 13–55 places annually, exacerbating both prison overcrowding and the approximately 73,000-case Crown Court backlog.
- Failure to address root causes of reoffending:
JUSTICE notes that new behavioural control orders, like Respect Orders, neglect root causes of offending and risk drawing vulnerable groups like children and those with mental health issues disproportionately into the criminal justice system. Practitioners at a JUSTICE roundtable – that included representatives from local authorities, the police, social housing providers and community safety expert – urged streamlining existing orders first before introducing new ones.
Furthermore, JUSTICE notes, making shop theft under £200 triable either way (up to seven years’ custody) ignores they key drivers of this offence: poverty and addiction, meaning it is unlikely to be effective in tackling the behaviour.
JUSTICE also critiques increased sentencing for offensive weapons offences, pointing to Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit’s success in reducing such crimes through addressing poverty, inequality, and youth engagement, rather than coercion.
- Chilling effect on protest rights:
New public order offences, such as concealing identity at specified protests (even where identity concealment was not the intention) and climbing war memorials (without criminal damage), are overly broad and threaten rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), including freedoms of expression and assembly.
These new offences would exacerbate the chilling effect on protests already observed with recent public order laws and lack sufficient justification.
- Erosion of police accountability:
Proposals to raise the threshold for referring officers to the Crown Prosecution Service would significantly weaken already flawed system of police accountability, with particularly damaging impact on police trust among racialised communities.
JUSTICE also flags the Bill’s measures around warrantless searches for tagged stolen goods for lacking judicial oversight. This undermines longstanding common law principles and would likely lead to innocent people’s homes being searched, resulting in costly compensation claims, further eroding public trust in police forces.
Recommendations
JUSTICE recommends adopting an evidence-led approach to sentencing, investing in solutions to address underlying causes of crime, and protecting human rights through robust procedural safeguards.
Moreover, JUSTICE stresses that rigorous parliamentary scrutiny is necessary to align the Bill with the aims of the Independent Sentencing Review and Criminal Courts Review to prevent further systemic pressures and undermining the rule of law
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Crime and Policing Bill – House of Commons Second Reading (March 2025)
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Crime and Policing Bill – House of Commons Committee Stage (April 2025)
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Crime and Policing Bill – House of Commons Committee Stage – Joint Briefing with Inquest (Part 13) (April 2025)
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