Public Order Act 1986

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) prosecutions have been made and (b) convictions obtained for offences under sections 21 and 22 of the Public Order Act 1986 in the last three years for which figures are available. (174427)

The information requested is provided in the following table.

*Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences under sections 21 and 22 of the Public Order Act 1986*^{1, 2}*, England and Wales*^{1, 2, 3}
	Distributing, showing or playing a recording intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. (Public Order Act 1986 S.21)	Broadcasting or including a programme in programme service intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. (Public Order Act 1986 S.22)
	Proceeded against	Found guilty	Proceeded against	Found guilty
2004	—	—	—	1
2005	—	1	2	1
2006	—	—	—	2
¹ These data are provided on the principal offence basis. ² Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. ³ The found guilty column may exceed those proceeded against as a defendant can be found guilty in a different year, or for a different offence to the one for which proceedings are originally brought. Source: Court Proceedings Database, Office for Criminal Justice Reform, Ministry of Justice.

Volume 470: debated on Tuesday 8 January 2008