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Coroners and Justice Act 2009

Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Summary

Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Field	Value
short_title	Coroners and Justice Act 2009
type	Act
parliament	Parliament of the United Kingdom
long_title
year	2009	statute_book_chapter=2009 c. 25
introduced_commons	Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Justice
introduced_lords	Lord Bach, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice
territorial_extent
royal_assent	12 November 2009
commencement
replaces
status	Amended
millbankhansard	"coroners and justice act 2009"
original_text	http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/contents/enacted
legislation_history	https://web.archive.org/web/20100213000956/http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/coronersandjustice.html
revised_text	http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/contents
use_new_UK-LEG	yes

|use_new_UK-LEG=yes

The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (c. 25) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the law on coroners and criminal justice in England and Wales.

Among its provisions are:

Preventing criminals from profiting from publications about their crimes
Abolishing the anachronistic offences of sedition and seditious, defamatory and obscene libel
Re-enacting the provisions of the emergency Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Act 2008 so that the courts may continue to grant anonymity to vulnerable or intimidated witnesses where this is consistent with a defendant's right to a fair trial
Criminalising possession of cartoon pornographic images depicting both minors as well as adults where the "predominant impression conveyed" is that the individual (being depicted), is that of a child.
Criminalising the holding of someone in slavery or servitude, or requiring them to perform forced or compulsory labour
Provision for the abolition of the office of Coroner of the Queen's Household.
Creation of the office of Chief Coroner of England and Wales.
Creation of the partial defence of loss of control.

The law has been condemned by a coalition of graphic artists, publishers and MPs, fearing it will criminalise graphic novels such as Lost Girls and Watchmen. These sections came into effect on 6 April 2010.

The act contains measures to reform the coroner system. According to the Institute of Legal Executives, "There is provision, carefully circumscribed, for the establishment of a judicial inquiry under the 2005 Inquiries Act to take the place of an inquest, where there is highly sensitive evidence (typically intercept) and it would not be possible to have an Article 2 compliant inquest. These provisions will be used in rare cases only."

The most controversial aspect of the bill are the provisions regarding secret inquests. The provisions had previously been mulled as part of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, though ultimately they were dropped before the Counter-Terrorism Bill was finalised. Last-minute concessions, as the Coroners and Justice Bill passed through Parliament, included giving the Lord Chief Justice the power to veto any requests for private inquests and also the power to decide who the judge is.

Hate crime reform

The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 amended Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 to extend hate crime legislation to cover "hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to sexual orientation (whether towards persons of the same sex, the opposite sex or both)".

To prevent that Act being used to inhibit freedom of speech on the subject of homosexuality, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act also inserted a new section 29JA, entitled "Protection of freedom of expression (sexual orientation)" but sometimes known as the Waddington Amendment (after Lord Waddington who introduced it). It reads:

In this Part, for the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.

During debate on the Coroners and Justice Bill the Government unsuccessfully attempted to repeal section 29JA. Clause 61 (which would have repealed section 29JA) was introduced into Parliament by Jack Straw on 14 January 2009. The clause was voted down by the House of Lords, reinstated by the House of Commons, and voted down again by the Lords before the Commons finally conceded that section 29JA could remain.

Slavery and forced labour

Section 71 of the act criminalises the holding of someone in slavery or servitude, or requiring them to perform forced or compulsory labour.

Amendment

Section 120 was amended by the Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Act 2025 to forbid the Sentencing Council from using personal characteristics in formulating sentencing guidelines concerning pre-sentence reports.

Coroners (Investigations) Regulations

The Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013 is a statutory instrument of the United Kingdom. Regulations 28 and 29 of this statutory instrument provide powers for coroners to issue reports to prevent future deaths, also known as PFD reports.

It defines part of the mechanisms set up under the 2009 act.

Notes

References

The Coroners and Justice Act 2009, Part 2, [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/part/2/chapter/2 Chapter 2]
[http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/slavery_servitude_and_forced_or_compulsory_labour/ CPS - Crown Prosecution Service, section 71]
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009, [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/section/46 section 46]
"Office of the Chief Coroner". UK Courts and Tribunals Judiciary.
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009, [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/25/section/54 Section 54]
Taylor, Jerome. (23 March 2009). "Graphic artists condemn plans to ban erotic comics". The Independent.
"Cartoon Law goes live".
[https://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/ukpga_20080004_en_33#sch16 Schedule 16, paragraph 14]
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldbills/033/09033.36-41.html#j30_100 Coroners and Justice Bill]
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmbills/160/097160.15-18.html Lords Amendments to the Coroners and Justice Bill] (no. 59)
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/90709-0005.htm#09070982000983 Hansard, 9 July 2009]
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/90709-0009.htm ''ibid.'']
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm091109/debtext/91109-0020.htm Hansard, 9 November 2009]
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/91111-0010.htm Hansard, 11 November 2009]
[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm091112/debtext/91112-0008.htm Hansard, 12 November 2009]
Caroline Davies and agencies. (19 December 2012). "Traveller family jailed over forced labour". [[The Guardian]].
(19 December 2012). "Traveller family guilty of forced labour are jailed".
"The Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013, part 7: Action to prevent other deaths".
Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, [https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/revised-chief-coroners-guidance-no-5-reports-to-prevent-future-deathsi/ Revised Chief Coroner’s Guidance No.5 Reports to Prevent Future Deaths], published 20 November 2020, accessed 16 May 2024
Fairbairn, McGuinness. (2021-02-19). "House of Commons Briefing Paper Number 03981, Coroners' investigations and inquests".
"Coroners and Justice Act 2009 - Ministry of Justice". [[Ministry of Justice]].
"Coroners and Justice Act 2009". [[Institute of Legal Executives]].
(12 November 2009). "Secret inquests battle at an end". [[BBC News Online]].

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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