Clause 8 - Common assault to be an arrestable offence
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Mr Christopher Leslie (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Shipley, Labour)
Let me first add my support to the Solicitor-General's remarks about it being a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr. Benton. I wish I had watched the ''Ground Force'' programme last night. I will have to see if I can get a transcript from the annals of the House of Commons Library; I am sure that one is held there for posterity.
We are now moving on to part 2 of the Bill, which deals with criminal procedure. As the hon. Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve) suggested, clause 8 adds common assault to the list of arrestable offences in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Like him, I asked some questions when I was being briefed about this matter, although I did not search the statistics as far back as he did. I gather that according to the British crime survey common assault accounts for about 61 per cent. of assaults, although it does not account for the same proportion of prosecutions for violent offences.
We have addressed the issue because the police's powers of arrest are complicated, and they can be particularly difficult to apply in cases of domestic violence. However, there is also a wider application that needs to be addressed outwith domestic violence. It might help if I give a bit of background. Currently, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 gives a police officer general powers to arrest if there is evidence that a common assault has occurred and that the officer has
''reasonable grounds for believing an arrest is necessary to prevent the relevant person . . . causing physical injury to himself or another person.''
In other words, that power of arrest relates to a possible future assault, rather than to the common assault that has taken place. Section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 makes common assault a summary offence—it can be dealt with in the magistrates court.
It is not unusual for the alleged offender to have left the scene by the time the police have arrived, and the victim may not be visibly injured. Common assault covers a range of actions from threats of violence through striking and battering to unlawful imprisonment. The police might feel that they need to take some action but might not be sure how to proceed. If they do not believe that an arrest is necessary under PACE because although an assault has taken place the alleged offender has left the scene, the police must obtain an arrest warrant in order to proceed with an arrest.
Some have questioned whether the clause is necessary because of existing general powers of arrest. However, those do not always provide a power of arrest in common assault cases. The Government believe that we must get our priorities right. Offences that are currently arrestable include disturbance of wild birds and possession of certain wild animals and plants under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. I am sure that we all agree that it is important that we give police the same powers to help victims of domestic violence or common assault as they have in cases of damage done to wild animals or plants.
In terms of the impact of clause 8 on domestic violence cases, the purpose of the clause is to provide the police with a simple way to ensure that the alleged offender is removed from the scene of the incident and their immediate return prevented where the alleged assailant is not in breach of other orders placed on them under either the Family Law Act 1996 or the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
Although our focus is on tackling domestic violence, we acknowledge that the clause will have a wider application and be of benefit to police when dealing with situations of public disorder or assaults that have taken place in conditions that would not be considered domestic violence and the police have the same difficulties identifying whether their general powers of arrest apply. The hon. Member for Beaconsfield raised an important point when he expressed concern about frivolous arrests or false allegations being made. It is important to stress that, although we are giving the police additional powers, they will still need to exercise their usual discretion as to whether to arrest someone.
The hon. Gentleman also asked about the ability of citizens to intervene in such circumstances. Perhaps he will elucidate at a later date, as I would be interested to hear the circumstances of the case in which he was involved. I have not read about that incident in any newspapers, but I hope that the action that he took was successful. I am told that citizens will theoretically have power of arrest if someone has committed an offence or is in the act of committing it, although that power is less wide than that of the police. The same applies to all arrestable offences, for example theft, so there is in the clause no change that would alter the role of the citizen in such circumstances. However, I think that it will help in general and make sure that there is clarity about the powers of the police to arrest.