asked Her Majesty's Government:How many prosecutions have been brought for offences contrary to Section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986; and how many of these prosecutions were successful. [HL1301]
The number of defendants proceeded against and found guilty of offences under Section 4A of the Public Order Act 1986 in England and Wales, as identified in the Home Office court proceedings database, are shown in the attached table.
Information for Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Office and for Northern Ireland for the Northern Ireland Office.
Statistics for 2004 will be available in autumn this year.
1995
| 1996
| 1997
| 1998
| 1999
| |||||||
Offence description
| Principal Statute
| Proceeded against
| Found guilty
| Proceeded against
| Found guilty
| Proceeded against
| Found guilty
| Proceeded against
| Found guilty
| Proceeded against
| Found guilty
|
| Causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress | Public Order Act 1986 Part I, Section 4A as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Section 154 | 100 | 40 | 516 | 295 | 1,009 | 493 | 1,270 | 716 | 1,459 | 730 |
| Racially aggravated causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress | Public Order Act 1986 Section 4A as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 Section 31(1)(b) and (4) | *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| 3 | 2 | 430 | 215 |
| Religiously aggravated causing intentional harassment alarm or distress | Public Order Act 1986 Section 4A as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 Section 31(1)(b) and (4) | *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Racially or religiously aggravated causing intentional harassment alarm or distress | Public Order Act 1986 Section 4A as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 Section 31(1)(b) and (4) | *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| *
| .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Total for all offences | Public Order Act 1986 | 100 | 40 | 516 | 295 | 1,009 | 493 | 1,273 | 718 | 1,889 | 945 |
2000
| 2001
| 2002
| 2003
| ||||||
Offence description
| Principal statute
| Proceeded against
| Found guilty
| Proceeded against
| Found guilty
| Proceeded against
| Found guilty
| Proceeded against
| Found guilty
|
| Causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress | Public Order Act 1986 Part I, Section 4A as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Section 154 | 1,390 | 651 | 1,451 | 748 | 1,442 | 771 | 1,566 | 819 |
| Racially aggravated causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress | Public Order Act 1986 Section 4A as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 Section 31(1)(b) and (4) | 771 | 407 | 948 | 448 | 815 | 400 | 835 | 444 |
| Religiously aggravated causing intentional harassment alarm or distress | Public Order Act 1986 Section 4A as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 Section 31(1)(b) and (4) | .. | .. | .. | .. | 1 | 1 | 13 | 9 |
| Racially or religiously aggravated causing intentional harassment alarm or distress | Public Order Act 1986 Section 4A as amended by Crime and Disorder Act 1998 Section 31(1)(b) and (4) | .. | .. | .. | .. | 12 | 18 | 80 | 79 |
| Total for all offences | Public Order Act 1986 | 2,161 | 1,058 | 2,399 | 1,196 | 2,270 | 1,190 | 2,494 | 1,351 |
* = Not applicable
.. = Not available
(1) These data are on the principal offence basis.
(2) Staffordshire Police Force was able only to supply a sample of data for magistrates' courts proceedings covering one full week for each quarter for 2000.
Estimates based on this sample are included in the figures, as they are considered sufficiently robust at this high level of anlysis.
Source:
RDS—Office for Criminal Justice Reform.