Draft Anti-Social Behaviour Bill
On the 13th December 2012, the Home Office published a Draft Anti-Social Behaviour Bill
Unfortunately it is almost unreadable. unless you either print out 95 pages of legislation.
You cannot use your (.pdf) reader software to do keyword searches, or to copy and paste sections of text into another document e.g. for submission as evidence to the Home Office or to the Home Affairs Committee.
If you have poor eyesight, you cannot use the Speech to Text capability of your software either. Surely this breaks all the politically correct Home Office and Parliamentary policies and the Law regarding Accessibility for Disabled people ?
Spy Blog has wasted a lot of hours trying out the Optical Character Recogbition feature of Google Drive and has produced an Accessible version of the Draft Anti-Social Behaviour Bill in various file formats:
http://spyblog.org.uk/ssl/asb/asb.pl
Having read every single word of this Bill, it came as no great surprise that the Home Office's supposeded "tidying up and simplification" of the vast legacy of the Social Control mechanisms and red tape they introduced under the Labour government is horribly complicated, inconsistently draughted and full of probably unintended consequences.
Over broad catch all language = threat to civil liberties
The intention of the Home Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government may be to "tackle" (i.e. Be Seen To Be Doing Something about something that features in the tabloid newspapers) e.g.feral youths hanging about on the streets etc. but the unecessarily broad language of the Bill (full of the usual catch all "any" and "anything" etc.) makes it a threat to civil liberties
e,g, "conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance" is far too broad - it is triggered even if there is no actual nuisance or annoyance whatsoever .
Disruption of protests and demonstrations using Dispersal Powers
There is little to stop a Police Constable or a Local Authority bureaucrat or various unamed. unaccountible people working for them, to , for example, use the Dispersion Powers to disrupt and harass peaceful political demonstrations and protests.The fact that there has to be a "official Trades Union dispute picket line" exemption, just as there was in the SOCPA Designated Area around Parliament Square, pretty well proves this legislation can be abused in this way.
Barriers around properties - could easily be used to create ghettos
Why are Local Authorities / Police being given powers to erect barriers which cut off access via Highway rights of way ? There are no safeguards to prevent this power from being used to create Belfast / Israel style ghettos or no-go areas,
Justice only if you are very rich
The attitude of the lawyers who have created this horrible legislation is that since you can, in theory, challenge the various Orders in the High Court, that makes everything ok in regard to compatibility with the Human Rights Act and the ECHR at Strasbourg.
In practice, this is not justice, since unless you are rich , you risk bankruptcy through the expensive legal fees to which the Court system involves, but your opponents have unlimited taxpayer funds and / or in house lawyers to oppose you.
RIPA Part 1 Intercept evidence loophole ?
In their eagerness to stack the legal system against the convicted criminal who is further being punished with an ASBO style order, the Home Office could well be setting themselves up for a major legal challenge to the sanctity of their "must be kept secret under penalty of 2 years in prison" Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act Part 1 Interception of communications evidence.
22 Proceedings on an application for an order
(1) For the purpose of deciding whether to make a criminal behaviour order the court may consider evidence led by the prosecution and evidence led by the offender.
(2) It does not matter whether the evidence would have been admissible in the proceedings in which the offender was convicted.
We look forward to seeing Charles Farr's reaction when a defence barrister asks for discovery of Intercept Evidence, citing the fact that, if passed, it must be the will of Parliament that the ASBA 2013 Act trumps RIPA 2000.
Confiscation of private property
The Bye Laws which were introduced in London around Parliament Square which allow for the confiscation of some specific types of private property i.e. tents , sleeping bags etc. to prevent the "nuisance" of "protest camps" etc. now seem to have mutated into the power to confiscate anything you are carrying , on the whim of the Police Constable or even a Local Council "Heritage Warden" jobsworth, not just in London but throughout England and Wales. N.B. this is not confiscation of illegal stuff like weapons or drugs, or specific things like alcohol in in a "no drinking on the street" zone, thjis is the power to confiscate, say your mobile phone or anything else you are carrying, for , supposedly up to 28 days.
Eviction of the innocent from council houses & discrimination against those in England
The idea that you can be punished for something which you personally did not do, or approve of, should be abhorrent to everyone in the UK.
This Bill tries to create a "Ground" for re-possession i.e. eviction of a fmily from a coincil house etc. on the basis that one of the members of the family or even a Visitor has been convicted of an offence which took place " took place during, and at the scene of, a riot in the United Kingdom".. So this person has already been punished but somehow the rest of their family should also be punished for something which they did not do themselves.
Stunnigly, this applies to a "riot" anywhere in the United Kingdom, including Scotalnd and Northern Ireland, even though this Anti-Social Behaviour Bill is only supposed to deaal with England & Wales.
Note that there is no similar provision for someone living in Wales, let alone Scotland or Northern Ireland. Why is there such unfair treatment of the English ?
Reverse Burden of Proof - having to prove a negative
It is intolerable to introduce the need for a defendant to have to "prove a negative" like this Bill does e.g.
41 Appeals against notices
(1) A person issued with a community protection notice may appeal to a magistrates' court against the notice on any of the following grounds.
1. That the Conduct specified in the community protection notice
(a) did not take place,
(b) has not had a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality,
(c) has not been of a persistent or continuing nature,
(d) is not unreasonable, or
,
Background
The Home Office have a Consultation open on one aspect of the ASB Bill, the Community Remedy
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/consultations/community-remedy-consultation/
All of the Adobe (.pdf) files are fine and Accessible, except for the most important one, the actual text of the Bill itself.
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/consultations/community-remedy-consultation/draft-antisocial-behaviour-bill?view=Binary (1.2 Mb) (includes accessible Explanatory Notes & inaccessible Bill text)
The Explanatory Notes are searchable or accessible via the latest Adobe XI reader's Text to Speech capability, but the actual text of the Draft ASB Bill, within the same document is Password encrypted so that it cannot be copied and pasted legibly.
You cannot use Adobe Reader or Foxit etc. to search for keywords within this appalling complicated legislation, which runs to 95 pages. Search engines like Google or Bing or Yahoo are similarly hampered.
The Parliament Bills page and the Home Affairs Committee link to this version
http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm84/8495/8495.pdf (1.2 Mb) (includes accessible Explanatory Notes & inaccessible Bill text)
which suffers from exactly the same Accessibility problems - there is no HTML web page version of the Draft ASB Bill on either the Parliament or Home Office websites.
The Home Affairs Select Committee wants to produce its Report into the Draft ASB Bill before the Parliamentary recess, so their deadline for the submission of written evidence is only next week i.e. Wednesday 9th January 2013
Exemption from liability
Why should Local Councils or the Police be given exemption from liability if they or their contractors damage or destroy a property which they have seized or forced the closure of ?
Anti-Social Behaviour Bill
CONTENTS
PART 1 INJUNCTIONS TO PREVENT NUISANCE AND ANNOYANCE
Injunctions to prevent nuisance and annoyance
1 Power to grant injunctions
[Still does not get rid of the unjust NuLabour legalistic trick of inflicting Criminal penalties without using the Criminal standard of proof "beyond reasonable doubt" ]
[evil catch all wording : "conduct capable of causing nuisance or annoyance to any person" is much too broad a definition]
Contents of Injunctions
2 Requirements included injunctions
3 Power of arrest
Applications for injunctions
4 Applications for injunctions
5 Applications Without notice
Interim injunctions
6 Interim injunctions
Variation and discharge
7 Variation or discharge of injunctions
Breach of injunctions
8 Arrest without warrant
9 Issue of arrest warrant
10 Remands
11 Powers in respect of under-18s
Powers of court on application by provider of residential accommodation
12 Power to exclude person from home in cases of violence or risk of harm
13 Tenancy injunctions: exclusion and power of arrest
Supplemental
14 Requirements to consult etc.
15 Appeals against decisions of youth courts
16 Special measures for witnesses
[What about the new UK Protected Persons Service which was announced after this Draft Bill was published ? No liaison with the Ministry of Justice]
17 Children and young persons: disapplication of reporting restrictions
18 Rules of Court
19 Interpretation etc.
20 Saving and transitional provision
PART 2
CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR ORDERS
Criminal behaviour orders
21 Power to make orders
22 Proceedings on an application for an order
[Creates a legal loophole which allows the legal Discovery / use of RIPA Part 1 Intercept Evidence which was banned in the original criminal trial !]
23 Requirements included in orders
24 Duration of order etc.
[Given the ECHR ruling on "indeterminate sentences for the protection of the public (IPPs)", surely those with "indefinite period" are illegal on exactly the same grounds. Especially of there are ever resorce issues with Approved Training Courses ?]
25 Approved courses
["the court must inform the offender in ordinary language about..."]
[Why can't all legal proceedings be explained in "ordinary language" ?]
Interim orders
26 Interim orders
Variation and discharge
27 Variation or discharge of orders
Breach of orders
28 Breach of order
Supplemental
29 Special measures for witnesses
[What about the new UK Protected Persons Service which was announced after this Draft Bill was published ? No liaison with the Ministry of Justice]
30 Saving and transitional provision
PART 3
DISPERSAL POWERS
31 Directions excluding a person from an area
[Can and will be abused against peaceful political protests, marches, demonstrations & occupations - the fact that there has to be an exemption for official Trades Union dispute picket lines proves this]
32 Restrictions
[This is unenforceable - ASBoid gang members are going to have fun with this e.g. getting their associates to SMS text them an order for takeaway food or drink etc. i.e. "a contract of services to which the person is a party", allowing them to legally ignore such a section 31 direction. ]
33 Surrender of property
[Confiscation of private property - not weapons etc. - by the police, without a Court Order]
34 Record-keeping
[Could be abused as a sneaky way of gathering names, addresses, phone numbers etc.]
35 Offences
36 Powers of Community support officers
37 Saving and transitional provision
PART4
COMMUNITY PROTECTION
CHAPTER 1
COMMUNITY PROTECTION NOTICES
Community protection notices
38 Power to issue notices
39 Occupiers of premises etc
40 Occupier or owner unascertainable
41 Appeals against notices
[You have to prove a negative ! Reverse Burden of Proof !]
Failure to comply with notice
42 Remedial action by local authority
43 Offence of failing to comply with notice
44 Remedial Orders
45 Forfeiture of item used in commission of offence
46 Seizure of item used in commission of offence
[confiscation of otherwise legal private property "on the street" without a Court Order]
47 Fixed penalty notices
Who may issue notices
48 Authorised persons
Supplemental
49 Exemption from liability
[There should not be any special exemption for the Police or Local Authorities or their subcontactors from legal liability for causing damage to property - remove this clause]
50 Issuing of notices
[More than 12 years after the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and Whitehall still can't get the hang of Digitally Signed electronic legal documents or notices]
51 Interpretation of Chapter 1
52 Saving and transitional provision
CHAPTER 2
PUBLIC SPACES PROTECTION ORDERS
Public spaces protection orders
53 Power to make orders
54 Duration of orders
55 Variation and discharge of orders
Prohibition on consuming alcohol
56 Premises etc. to which alcohol prohibition does not apply
57 Consumption of alcohol in breach of prohibition in order
Restrictions on public rights of way
58 Orders restricting public right of way over highway
[Power to erect "barriers" around Ghettos]
59 Categories of highway over which public right of way may not be restricted
Validity of orders
60 Challenging the validity of orders
Failure to comply with orders
61 Offence of failing to comply with order
62 Fixed penalty notices
Supplemental
63 Powers of community support officers
64 Byelaws
65 Interpretation of Chapter 2
CHAPTER 3
CLOSURE OF PREMISE5 ASSOCIATED WITH NUISANCE OR DISORDER ETC
Closure notices
66 Power to issue closure notices
[ "past" = any time in history]
67 Duration of closure notices
68 Cancellation or Variation of closure notices
69 Service of notices
[More than 12 years after the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and Whitehall still can't get the hang of Digitally Signed electronic legal documents or notices]
Closure orders
70 Power of Court to make closure orders
71 Temporary orders
72 Extension of closure orders
73 Discharge of closure orders
Appeals
74 Appeals
Enforcement
75 Enforcement of closure orders
76 Offences
Supplemental
77 Access to other premises
78 Reimbursement of costs
79 Exemption from liability
[No! There should be no exemption from liability whatsover !]
80 Compensation
81 Interpretation of Chapter 3
82 Saving and transitional provision
["past" = only 3 months]
PART 5
RECOVERY OF POSSESSION OF DWELLING=HOUSES ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR GROUNDS
Absolute ground for possession: secure tenancies
83 New ground for serious offences or breach of requirements etc
84 Notice requirements for new ground
85 Review requirements for new ground
Absolute ground for possession: assured tenancies
86 Corresponding new ground and notice requirements for assured tenancies
Discretionary grounds: secure and assured tenancies
87 Addition of offences connected with riot to existing possession grounds
[No ! eviction of an innocent household member = communal punishment]
[Anti-English discrimination c.f. Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland]
Supplemental
88 Restrictions where new possession proceedings in progress etc
PART 6
LOCAL INVOLVEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Community remedies
89 The community remedy document
90 Anti-social behaviour etc.: out-of-court disposals
91 Criminal behaviour: conditional cautions
Response to complaints about anti-social behaviour
93 Review of response to complaints
93 ASB case reviews: interpretation
PART 7
GENERAL
94 Amendments
95 Orders and regulations
96 Extent
97 Commencement
98 Short title
SCHEDULES
Schedule 1 - Remands under sections 8 and 9
Schedule 2 - Breach of injunctions: powers of court in respect of under185
Part 1 - Introductory
Part 2 - Supervision orders
Part 3 - Detention orders
Schedule 3 - Approval of courses and certificates of completion
Schedule4 - Schedule to be inserted as Schedule 2A to the Housing Act 1985
Schedule 5 - ASB case reviews: supplementary provision
Part 1 - Making and revising review procedures etc
Part 2 Inclusion of local providers of social housing among relevant bodies
Part 3 - ASB case reviews
Part 4 - General
Schedule 6 - Minor and consequential amendments
Part 1 Amendments
Part 2 - Consequential repeals