ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 considers a range of criminal law offences that move beyond traditional concepts of harm to the person or to property, to regulate situations that risk harm or damage to society in a variety of ways. The chapter begins by considering the range of public order offences in criminal law, most of which were redefined by the Public Order Act 1986. Next, the chapter considers offences regulating antisocial behaviour, looking at the recent history of legislative response. After this, the chapter considers the framework of offences regulating drug use, supply and trafficking, established under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and extended by the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016. Finally, the chapter discusses offences involving weapons possession. The second part of the chapter considers all of these offences in their criminal justice context, noting key recent real-life examples of their occurrence, such as the English riots of 2011, and the current media focus on knife crime, as well as ongoing debates about the legalisation and decriminalisation of drugs. The chapter concludes by reviewing the evidence from criminal law and criminal justice in the light of the roadmap theories in Chapter 1.
