Law reform round up December 2016
The Society’s committees have been working on a number of Scottish Parliament and UK Parliament Bills and consultations including the Proposed Football Act (Repeal) (Scotland) Bill, the impacts of Brexit on Justice and Security and the Future of Forestry in Scotland.
The Criminal Law Committee has responded to a consultation issued by James Kelly MSP on the Proposed Football Act (Repeal) (Scotland) Bill which is a proposal for a Bill to repeal the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.
The question of whether or not the 2012 Act should be repealed is a matter for the Scottish Parliament. We believe that the intent to address the serious issues of offensive behaviour at football matches and threatening communications is entirely commendable; however, we remain concerned about a number of aspects of the Act, which we expressed when we provided written and oral evidence to the Justice Committee at Bill stage in 2011.
As stated in our 2011 response, a substantial proportion of the offensive behaviour related to football was likely to be caught by the substantive criminal law which existed prior to the 2012 Act coming into force, and continues to exist. We have also reiterated our previous concerns about the enforceability of the legislation and practicalities of prosecuting alleged incidents occurring out with Scotland.
We have continued to respond to various consultations and engage with both the Scottish and UK Parliaments on the future relationship between the UK and the European Union.
In particular, the Criminal Law Committee has responded to the House of Lords EU Home Affairs Sub-Committee inquiry into police and security co-operation between the UK and EU following a UK exit from the EU. We suggested that the UK Government should consider giving priority to deciding whether or not to opt-in to the new European policing co-operation framework in order to continue to access Europol. We warned that failure to do so would have implications for the ability of the police to share information and we welcome the recent announcement from the UK Government signalling the intention to opt-in to Europol.
We have also responded to the UK Parliament’s Justice Committee inquiry on the implications of Brexit for the Justice System and provided written briefings to all MSPs ahead of the Scottish Government debate on the UK Referendum on EU Membership: Impacts on Justice and Security in Scotland, which took place on 1 November 2016.
You can view all our consultations and parliamentary work relating to Brexit here
The Criminal Law Committee issued a briefing to all MSPs ahead of the Scottish Government debate: Working Together to Prevent and Eradicate Hate Crime and Prejudice.
We believe that tackling hate crimes taking place in communities across Scotland is essential and it is important to ensure that there is clarity in our law to be able to identify these types of crimes. There is a significant amount of legislation passed by both the Scottish and UK Parliaments aimed at preventing and eradicating hate crime and prejudice and we think there would be considerable benefit in bringing them together within a single piece of legislation which would provide clarity, assist with easy identification of the relevant offences and protections afforded, and improve access to justice.
We also said that evaluation of the impact of existing hate crime legislation would be welcome. Currently there are several pieces of legislation on prejudice relating to race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity. However there is no statutory aggravation for offences which may be aggravated by prejudice on the grounds of age or gender. In addition to consolidating offences, any review of the law could consider the option of having one piece of legislation on aggravated offences and could also include aspects that aren’t currently covered.
The Rural Affairs Committee has responded to the Scottish Government consultation on the Future of Forestry in Scotland, which will help inform their approach to new arrangements for the governance, development, support and regulation of forestry in Scotland.
While we agree with the overall approach set out in the consultation paper, we note that the paper itself contains little actual detail. The paper does not consider who will be responsible for administering grants, the current responsibility of the Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS), and does not address how the new organisational arrangements will work alongside the private sector.