reforms

• in 1998, the home office issued a consultation document called "Violence: reforming the offences against the person act 1861". It included a draft bill that would set out four main offenses that would replace assault, battery, and sections 47, 18 and 20 of the 1861 act.
• any new statute should respect the following principles:

  • It provides a clear hierarchy, ranking the least serious to the most- it would reflect the harm caused, the culpability of the defendant, maximum penalty
  • each offence should provide a clear and accurate label for the conduct in question which would be defined in easy to understand language
  • each ingredient of an offence, be it external or mental, should be set out explicitly
• The "Violence: reforming the offences against the person act 1861" seems to cover the following points:

  • there would be no overlap or inconsistency between the offences
  • the actus reus and men's rea for each newly proposed offence is clearly set out
  • the offences conform to the correspondence principle
  • the resulting law would give victims higher protection
• Any reform of the law would inevitably be subject to criticism and cases will arise that challenge the meaning of words and phrases in the new legislation
• Given the manner in which the legal system operates, the complete analysis of new legislation would be lengthy. it requires a case to be brought and then work through the appeal system. there may be a delay while waiting for cases that have any particular point in them.
• However, an appeal would have to be funded in an area that has declining legal aid; many defendants would rather the case be over and done with, especially if the sentence isn't custodial.
• According to the 1998 consultation paper called "Violence: Reforming the offences against the person act 1861", what offence replaces section 18 of the offences against the person act 1861, and what is it's sentence?

  Intentionally caused serious injury, it carries a maximum sentence of a life sentence
• According to the 1998 consultation paper called "Violence: Reforming the offences against the person act 1861", what offence replaces section 20 of the offences against the person act 1861, and what is it's sentence

  recklessly causing serious injury, the defendant must foresee a risk of serious injury-- this would carry a maximum of 7 years in prison
• According to the 1998 consultation paper called "Violence: Reforming the offences against the person act 1861", what offence replaces section 47 of the offences against the person act 1861, and what is it's sentence

  either intentionally or recklessly causing injury, not necessarily by assault but the defendant must foresee a risk of some injury OR assault that causes injury with no need to foresee risk of injury. Both offences would carry custodial sentences between 12 months and 5 years
• According to the 1998 consultation paper called "Violence: Reforming the offences against the person act 1861", what offence replaces assault and battery-and , and what is it's sentence

  physical assault, or threatened assault-- both carry maximum sentences of 6 months
• In 2015, the law commission produced the ‘reform of offences against the person act 1861’ report.