How serious is a buying offense? You need it

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Young woman who shops in a shop. About 30 years, Caucasian blonde. — Shoplifters could be more likely to receive heavier sentences in the reforms that are presented by the government. (Getty Images)

Harder sanctions for buyers are presented by the government as part of it Crime and police bill.

Legislation presented in Parliament on Tuesday by the Secretary of Interior Yvette Cooper, He would see a number of new laws and police powers introduced to stamp and prevent crime.

Proposals include allowing officers Search stolen phones without a mandateBy Criminal exploitation for children a specific offenseAnd the decrease of the threshold at which the sellers can expect more serious sentences.

If it had passed, the draft law would eliminate the legislation that causes the theft from the store and under 200 pounds to be an exclusive crime.

This type of crime can only be tried in a court of magistrates and is generally considered to be less serious, which claims that the home office has granted “effective immunity” in lower value stores.

Currently, the maximum punishment for the sale of goods worth less than 200 pounds is six months of custody and up to seven years for higher articles.

A new offense of aggressing a retailer would also be introduced in an attempt to offer the workers of the stores “the protection they need,” said the Government, with the criminals who face up to six months in prison.

Yvette Cooper home secretary arrives in Downing Street, London, for a cabinet meeting. Image date: Tuesday, February 25, 2025. — The secretary at home, Yvette Cooper, hired to collapse on the theft of the store with her bill. (Alamy)

It comes after the figures published by the National Statistics Office (ONS) in January showed that almost half a million offenses were registered by the police in England and Wales within a year. This increased by 23% compared to the previous year and was the highest total of 12 months registered.

The British retail consortium (BRC) warned that the showlifting is “under control”, with over 2,000 incidents per day and staff facing assault, being threatened with racial and sexual abuse.

A Parliamentary investigation into shopping He said in November that he found that the theft of the store is a “reported crime that is not effectively addressed, which leads to a devastating impact on the retail sector and the wider economy”, with almost 17 million Annual incidents that cost the retail sector of almost 2 billion pounds in one year.

However, the Environment Secretary of Shadow, Victoria Atkins, suggested that the crown courts may not have the ability to take a wave of shopping cases and question how this could have an impact on the victims of the offenses serious.

She told Sky News that she is “deeply worried” that eliminating summary only the crime of buying products below 200 pounds would mean “rape victims will be even harder and longer to get their day in court.”

But what do you think? How serious do you think the purchase is and where should we treat the line to take these cases to Crown Court? Say it in the polls below:

“We believe in safer streets,” says Cooper

At the center of the draft law on crime and police is the ambition of the Government to “help take control over the city centers,” said Cooper LBC on Tuesday.

“This legislation refers to the power of police power and communities to take control of the city centers, theft, the antisocial behavior that can throw too many centers and neighborhoods of the city, approaching off-road bicycles.

“But also measures to approach the most serious violence we face – making children make hands on knives and lethal weapons, more powerful measures regarding pursuit and peak to address violence against women and girls and the protection of our children against offenses and sexual exploitation.

“So, a whole series of things we do because we believe in safer streets.”

The government said that the measures in the draft law on crime and police will be supported by the recruitment of 13,000 additional neighborhood police roles.

Cooper acknowledged that police financing is “tight”, but indicated an increase in financing of up to 1.1 billion pounds for forces for next year and said that the neighborhood police would generally increase.

“The work I have done with the police forces is clear that, in general, the neighborhood police will increase next year as a result of funding,” she told the BBC Radio 4 Today program.

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