Francis Bennion is an author, constitutional lawyer and draftsman of state constitutions. A former UK Parliamentary Counsel, he is currently a member of the Oxford University Law Faculty and a Research Associate at the Oxford University Centre for Socio-Legal Studies.
A top constitutional lawyer has criticised police guidance on ‘hate crimes’, saying the police are going beyond the law.
In an article for a legal magazine, Francis Bennion attacks guidance on 'hate incidents' produced by the Association of Chief Police Officers. The guidance says all accusations of ‘hate incidents’ should be recorded.
The guidance defines a ‘hate incident’ very loosely with no reference to the ‘reasonable person’ test. It says a hate incident is “Any incident, which may or may not constitute a criminal offence, which is perceived by the victim or any other person, as being motivated by prejudice or hate.”
In the article, Mr Bennion writes: “When is a law not a law? When it’s made by the police. It looks like law. It’s enforced like a law. But it’s not a law.” He goes on to say, “The duty of police officers is to enforce the law, not go beyond the law. That’s called police harassment.”
Mr Bennion also quotes recent cases of the police investigating so-called ‘hate incidents’, including the case of Joe and Helen Roberts – the Christian couple interrogated by the police for complaining about their local council’s gay rights policies.
The article in full (used by kind permission of the author)
The article was published in Justice of the Peace, volume 170 (21 January 2006) pages 27-31
