NCJ Number
129925
Journal
Research Bulletin Issue: 29 Dated: (1990) Pages: 10-14
Date Published
1990
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Information from interviews with police officers and a review of records on 470 public order offenses that occurred in two police jurisdictions in Great Britain in 1988 formed the basis of an analysis of the impact on policing of the Public Order Act of 1986.
Abstract
The new law aimed to provide a clearer offense structure by replacing the common law offenses of riot, rout, affray, and unlawful assembly with five offenses ranging in seriousness from riot down to disorderly conduct. From 1986 to 1988 the number of prosecutions for public order offenses more than doubled. However, the police all agreed that public disorder had not increased since the passage of the legislation. Instead, they agreed that the law's flexibility resulted in increasing numbers of arrests for public order offenses. Thus, the charge of affray was being used much more often than before, particularly for relatively minor offenses involving the threat of violence more often than actual violence. Many police officers also suggested that a public order charge would often be used in conjunction with more serious charges or as an alternative charge if the sufficiency of the evidence were in doubt. 2 references