Intentional harassment, alarm or distress is a

statutory A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

offence in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

. It is an aggravated form of the offence of

harassment, alarm or distress Harassment, alarm or distress is an element of a statutory offence in England and Wales, arising from an expression used in sections 4A and 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which created the offence. The Act was amended in 1994. The offence The o ...

under section 5 of the

Public Order Act 1986 The Public Order Act 1986 (c 64) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates a number of public order offences. They replace similar common law offences and parts of the Public Order Act 1936. It implements recommendations

The offence

The offence is created by section 4A of the

, which was inserted by section 154 of the

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c.33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It introduced a number of changes to the law, most notably in the restriction and reduction of existing rights, clamping down on unlicensed ...

Mode of trial and sentence

This is a

summary offence A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary offenc ...

. It is punishable with

imprisonment Imprisonment is the restraint of a person's liberty, for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is "false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessari ...

for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the

standard scale The standard scale is a system in Commonwealth law whereby financial criminal penalties (fines) in legislation have maximum levels set against a standard scale. Then, when inflation makes it necessary to increase the levels of the fines the legisl ...

, or both.The

, section 4A(5)

Arrest

Section 4A(4) of the 1986 Act formerly provided that a constable (or

designated person Designation (from Latin ''designatio'') is the process of determining an incumbent's successor. A candidate that won an election for example, is the ''designated'' holder of the office the candidate has been elected to, up until the candidate's i ...

) could arrest without warrant anyone he reasonably suspected was committing this offence. This was repealed by section 174 of, and Part 2 of Schedule 17 to, the

Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 The Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005 (c.15) (often abbreviated to SOCPA or SOCAP) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed primarily at creating the Serious Organised Crime Agency. It also significantly extended and si ...

Racially or religiously aggravated offence

Section 31(1)(b) of the

Crime and Disorder Act 1998 The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (c.37) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act was published on 2 December 1997 and received Royal Assent in July 1998. Its key areas were the introduction of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders, Sex ...

(c.37) creates the distinct offence of racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress.

Notes

References

* Blackstones Police Manual Volume 4 General police duties, Fraser Simpson (2006). pp. 251. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN, 0-19-928522-5
Rowan Atkinson's speech at Reform Section 5 Parliamentary reception
– ''YouTube'' Freedom of speech Harassment law English legal terminology