Law essay - Offences Against the person Act, 1861and its reforms.

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Gemma Louise Lang

Year 13.

Law essay.

Offences Against the person Act, 1861and its reforms.

‘It has been suggested by the Law Commission and others that section 18, 20 and 47 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 should be repealed because they are unjust, ineffective, illogical and severely defective.  In addition the offences, as they are defined, are incomprehensible to juries.’

Explain and comment on these suggestions.

In 1980 it was suggested by the Criminal Law revision Committee that the area of law concerning the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 should be reformed.  Its proposals were incorporated into the draft code of criminal law prepared by the law Commission. The LC again considered the matter at the beginning of the 1990’s.  In 1993 a report and Criminal Law draft Bill on the issue in question was produced.  Whilst considering the reforms much emphasis was played on the wording of the Act and its sections.  The language used was updated and wording such as seriously injured was used rather than grievous bodily harm, whilst enabling the words ‘maliciously’ and ‘wounding’ all together.

1993 and 1998 saw the introduction of many significant reforms, which were proposed in the Law Commission report, as previously mentioned.  The Home Office issued a draft bill based on the law commissions report and stated the aim of the bill was not to make the law more lenient or tougher but rather to make it clearer and easier to use.

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There were many propositions made by the main were as follows,

‘Clause 1, to replace section 18, intentionally causing serious injury’, instead of Grievous Bodily Harm with intent.

‘Clause 2, to replace section 20, recklessly causing serious injury’ instead of GBH, in this section the imprisonment period would be changed from a five year maximum sentence to that of seven years.  This increased maximum sentence would make it the same as a racially aggravated punishable offence.

‘Clause 3, intentionally or recklessly causing injury’, to replace section 47 which is that of Actual Bodily Harm.  

However, concerning clause 3 it ...

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