Status: Our simplification work includes a series of projects. We consulted on Public Nuisance and Outraging Public Decency in Spring 2010 and on Kidnapping in Autumn 2011
In the 10th Programme, the Commission took the opportunity to reappraise whether projects with codification as their principal outcome were realistic. We removed mention of a codification project in relation to criminal law from our Programme and introduced a new item, which seeks to undertake projects to simplify the criminal law. We see this work as the necessary precursor to any attempts to codify the criminal law.
The duty in reforming the criminal law, as elsewhere, is to identify reform projects that will make the law accessible, remove uncertainties and bring it up to date with the aim that in the future we will return and codify the area if we cannot do so as part of the project.
The Commission continues to support the objective of codifying the law, and will continue to codify where it can, but considers that it needs to redefine its approach to make codification more achievable. This project is an important component of that redefinition. We believe that simplification of the criminal law is a necessary step in furtherance of its codification. The aim of the project is to identify those areas of the criminal law where the law could be simplified and improved by the abolition, repeal, replacement or modification of offences that are unused in practice, or problematic in principle, for example because the definition is vague or anomalous.
The scope of the simplification project is open-ended in that it is not confined to a discrete area of criminal law. It will therefore be necessary to identify from time to time the precise areas of law to be simplified. To ensure our work is as relevant and useful as it can be, we shall consult the Ministry of Justice and other relevant departments about what areas we should cover.
In the 10th Programme, we mentioned three potential areas of the criminal law that we could examine with the aim of simplifying them:
- Public nuisance
- Kidnapping
- Treason
We have so far published consultation papers on Public Nuisance and Outraging Public Decency and on Kidnapping.
