Criminal Justice (I подгруппа)

Criminal Justice

The Government's strategy for dealing with crime is to sustain the rule of law by preventing crime where possible; to detect culprits when crimes are commited; to commit the guilty and acquit the innocent; to deal firmly, adequately and sensibly with those found guilty; and to provide more effective support for the victims of crime. It is also concerned with ensuring that public confidence in the criminal justice system is maintained and that a proper balance between the rights of the citizen and the needs of community as a whole is maintained.

With continuing concern in Britain, as in many other countries, over rising crime rates, public expenditure on law and order programme reflects the special priority given by the Government to these services. Recent increases have been made to cover, in particular, greater police manpower, the probation service and extra spending on prison building. More than two-thirds of total expenditure is initially incurred by local authorities (with the help of central government grants), mainly on the police service. 

A number of measures to strengthen the criminal justice system have been taken. The Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 provides for the pre-trial freezing of suspected drug trafficker's assets, backed up on conviction by immediate confiscation of the assets to the value of the proceeds of the crime; similar provisions are included in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1987. The Public Order Act 1986 codifies the common law offences of riot, unlawful assembly and affray; enhances the powers of the police to control public processions and assemblies likely to result in serious disorder or disruption; strengthens the law against incitement to racial hatred; and provides additional powers to combat football hooliganism. Under the Criminal Justice Act 1987 a Serious Fraud Office with wide powers to investigate and prosecute serious or complex fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was established in 1988. 

The Criminal Law

The criminal law, like the law generally, is interpreted by the courts but changes in the law are matters for Parliament. In practice most legislation affecting criminal law is government-sponsored, but there is usually consultation between government departments and the legal profession, the police, the probation service (in Scotland, the so­cial work agencies) and voluntary bodies.

Crime Statistics

Differences in the legal systems, police recording practices and sta­tistical classifications in the countries of the United Kingdom make it impracticable to analyse in detail trends in crime for the country as a whole. Nevertheless, it is clear that, as in Western Europe generally, there has been a substantial increase in crime since the early 1950s. However, official statistics cover only crime recorded by the police and may thus be affected by changes in the proportion of crimes which are undiscovered or unreported. The level of police manning and deployment of the force may also affect recording.

Table 1 shows the rate of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

Table 1

Notifiable Offences Recorded by the Police, per 100,000 Population (England and Wales) 1985, 1986 and 1987

Offence group	1985	1986	1987
Homicide	1	1	1
Violence against the person (excluding homicide)	244	250	281
Sexual offences	43	45	50
Burglary	1,742	1,866	1,797
Robbery	55	60	65
Theft and handling stolen goods	3,786	4,014	4,098
Fraud and forgery	271	267	266
Criminal damage	1,083	1,169	1,176
Other offences	34	33	39

Source: Home Office.

The 1985 and 1986 figures have been revised to accord with changes in compilation.

Some 95 per cent of crime is against property, much of this being relatively small scale. This reinforces the need, in the Government's view, to encourage the development of crime prevention schemes.