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Violent Crime Reduction Bill

I would not have thought that one was extending the criminal law to a great extent. I refer noble Lords back to the prize-fighting of the 18th and 19th centuries. People who attended a prize fight could find themselves being charged with the criminal offence of encouraging the fight to take place. To the degree that photographing an incident like this encourages, that is already a criminal offence. However, something specific in modern terms—as opposed to going back to the common law—in which one expressed the offence as videoing an incident of this sort, would bring it home to people much more quickly. The alternative would be to suggest to the Crown Prosecution Service, through the Attorney-General, that it should consider prosecuting people on the basis of encouragement and incitement when the circumstances come to light in a particular case. If there were a test case, I am sure that, having regard to the press publicity for happy slapping, that would equally bring home to people nationwide that this practice could very well be regarded as a serious criminal offence already.