Sus law
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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, particularly black and ethnic minority communities, against whom the police use of the law was particularly targeted. The sus law was abolished following race 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. [1] Following Lord Scarman's inquiry into the cause of the Brixton riots, the sus law was dropped.
[edit] 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: [2]
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 that he would, if elected, seek 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.[3]
[edit] See also
- Reasonable Suspicion for a similar US stop-and-search standard.
- Institutional racism
[edit] References
- ^ "The legacy of the Brixton riots". BBC News. 5 April 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4854556.stm. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
- ^ "Concerns voiced over new terror powers". The Times. 27 May 2007. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article1847685.ece?token=null&offset=0. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
- ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | Push for new stop and search laws
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