Tuesday 15 January 2013

The law on self defence against burglars is changing

Amongst many things in the Crime and Courts Bill that we passed yesterday is the welcome news that the innocent householder will have greater protection from the law when confronted with a burglar. The old law was reasonable force but this led to several householders facing possible prosecution in circumstances where the vast majority of the population thought this was wrong.
We have also reformed community sentencing, created the National Crime Agency to target serious organised criminals, and amended Section 5 of the Public Order Act to remove the word insulting from it.
This is a good bill which will make a difference on so many levels.