The Ministry of Justice has announced that the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill received Royal Assent on 8 May. The first provisions (in relation to dangerous offenders) are expected to come in to force in July.

The Act will:

• introduce a new criminal offence of incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation
• clarify the law on self defence, articulating the state’s responsibility to stand by those acting in good faith when using force in self defence
• introduce new civil penalties for serious breaches of data protection principles
• abolish the common law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel
• reinstate the statutory ban on industrial action by prison officers
• introduce a minimum tariff of two years for prisoners serving indeterminate public protection sentences
• end automatic discounts for offenders given an indeterminate sentence after the initial sentencing decision has been judged unduly lenient
• give powers for courts to make dangerous offenders given a discretionary life sentence serve a higher proportion of their tariff before being eligible for parole
• create a presumption that trials in magistrates’ courts will proceed in the event the accused fails to appear
• introduce a new offence of possession of extreme pornographic images
• extend existing crack house closure powers to tackle premises at the centre of serious and persistent disorder or nuisance, regardless of tenure
• create a new offence of causing a nuisance or disturbance on NHS premises
• provide for non-dangerous offenders who breach the terms of their licence to be recalled to prison for a fixed 28 day period
• create a Youth Rehabilitation Order – a generic community sentence for children and young offenders, this will target the causes of offending behaviour and will simplify the current sentencing framework
• create the Youth Conditional Caution for young offenders
• bring compensation for those wrongly convicted broadly into line with compensation for victims of crime
• provide for special immigration status for terrorists and serious criminals who cannot currently be removed from the UK for legal reasons.