Changes in the law aimed at keeping serious sexual and violent offenders behind bars for longer and making the streets safer come into force on Tuesday. Making whole-life orders, the most severe punishment available in the UK criminal justice system, the starting point for pre-meditated child murder is among the new measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act.
Introducing mandatory life sentences for the unlawful killing of emergency workers in the line of duty and ending the automatic early release of offenders deemed to be a danger to the public are also part of the act. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the reforms come as the Government aims to “make our streets safer”.
Domestic abuse victims are to get more time to report common assault or battery crimes to police. A new breastfeeding voyeurism offence could see anyone who takes photographs or video recordings of nursing mothers without their consent facing up to two years in prison.
