Sus law

Sus law

In Britain, the Sus law was the informal name for a stop-and-search law that permitted a police officer to act on suspicion, or 'sus', alone.

It was based upon Sections 4 and 6 of the Vagrancy Act 1824 which made it "illegal for a suspected person or reputed thief to frequent or loiter in a public place with intent to commit an arrestable offence" and effectively permitted the police to stop and search and even arrest anyone they chose, purely on the basis of suspicion as a crime-prevention tactic.

The law caused much discontent among certain sections of the population and was abolished following riots in St Pauls, Bristol, in 1980, and in Brixton, London, and Toxteth, Liverpool, in 1981, because its alleged abuse was believed to be a contributory factor to these events. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4854556.stm | work=BBC News | title= The legacy of the Brixton riots | date= 5 April 2006 | accessdate=2007-06-06 ] Following Lord Scarman's inquiry into the cause of the Brixton riots, the sus law was dropped.

2007 legislation

Subsequent British legislation which makes provision for the police to act on the basis of suspicion alone has been denounced as "another sus law" by opponents of proposals to grant British police "stop and question" powers: [cite web | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1847685.ece?token=null&offset=0 | work=The Times | title= Concerns voiced over new terror powers | date= 27 May 2007 | accessdate=2007-06-06 ]

Mr Hain said he wanted to see the details of the policy before making any judgement.

But he told BBC1’s Sunday AM: “We cannot have a reincarnation of the old ‘sus’ laws under which mostly black people, ethnic minorities, were literally stopped on sight and that created a really bad atmosphere and an erosion of civil liberties.”

In January 2008 David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative party, announced his plan that if elected, to return similar powers to the police. Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced in response that he would seek to remove the accountability for stop and searches. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7216815.stm BBC NEWS | Politics | Push for new stop and search laws ] ]

ee also

Reasonable Suspicion for a similar US stop-and-search standard.

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • SUS — or Sus can refer to:;SUS *Single UNIX Specification *Software Update Services, from Microsoft *State University System of Florida *Stainless Steel (Steel Use Stainless) *Scottish Universities Sport *System Usability Scale (SUS) *Stavanger… …   Wikipedia

  • Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Título Ley y Orden: Unidad de víctimas especiales. (España) La Ley y el Orden: Unidad de víctimas especiales. (Latinoamérica) Género Policiaca y Drama legal Creado por Dick Wolf Reparto Christopher Meloni …   Wikipedia Español

  • Law & Order: Criminal Intent — Título La Ley y el Orden: Intento Criminal (Latinoamerica) Ley y Orden: Acción Criminal (España) Género Policiaca y Drama legal Creado por Dick Wolf País de origen …   Wikipedia Español

  • Law \x26 Order: Criminal Intent — Law Order: Criminal Intent Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Law Order: Criminal Intent Género Policiaca y Drama legal Creado por René Balcer y Dick Wolf País de origen …   Wikipedia Español

  • Law \x26 Order: Special Victims Unit — Law Order: Special Victims Unit Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Law Order: Special Victims Unit Título Ley y Orden: Unidad de víctimas especiales. (España) La Ley y el Orden: Unidad de víctimas especiales. (Latinoamérica) Género Policiaca y Drama… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Law \x26 Society Association — Law Society Association Saltar a navegación, búsqueda La Law and Society Association (Asociación de Derecho y Sociedad, L S, o LSA), es una asociación transnacional de académicos fundada en 1964 por profesores en su mayoría de la Facultad de… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Law Abiding Citizen — Título Un ciudadano ejemplar (España) El vengador (México) Días de ira (Argentina) Ficha técnica Dirección F. Gary Gray Dirección artística Jesse Rosenthal …   Wikipedia Español

  • sus|pen´sive|ly — sus|pen|sive «suh SPEHN sihv», adjective. 1. inclined to suspend judgment; undecided in mind. 2. having to do with or characterized by suspense, uncertainty, or apprehension: »a suspensive hush. 3. having the power or effect of suspending,… …   Useful english dictionary

  • sus|pen|sive — «suh SPEHN sihv», adjective. 1. inclined to suspend judgment; undecided in mind. 2. having to do with or characterized by suspense, uncertainty, or apprehension: »a suspensive hush. 3. having the power or effect of suspending, deferring, or… …   Useful english dictionary

  • sus Brit. — sus Brit. [sʌs] informal noun 1》 suspicion of having committed a crime.     ↘[as modifier] historical relating to or denoting a law under which a person could be arrested on suspicion of having committed an offence. 2》 variant spelling of suss… …   English new terms dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”