Written evidence to be reported to the House

Part of Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 5:15 pm on 16 October 2007.

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Jan Berry: Clearly, there is no place in society for that type of behaviour, but there is a huge problem with policing it because it is a matter of interpretation. The offence of incitement to racial hatred has been policed quite reasonably. Many of the scare stories have not come true because it has been policed sensibly. The same kind of interpretation would need to be applied to homophobia, otherwise you would be giving police officers the responsibility of making a decision about a comment, which could be a joke or a sermon or, as we have seen in today’s newspapers, a minister making a comment on an internet site. Such things could be covered by the Bill if proper guidance is not provided. I do not think that that is intended, so the drafting of the Bill needs to make the intentions clear.