There is a proposal to change how we criminalise people who damage statues. This proposed change is set out in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Court Bill and has received much criticism — it is the supposed cause of last night’s protests in Bristol, the first place in the UK to see a prominent statue being toppled last summer.
But it is not for lawyers to tell the public what they can or should think — the law is the law, but any changes to it are political decisions. Lawyers can elucidate how our regulations currently work but it is for the public and their politicians to decide what those regulations are. So it is worth looking at how the law treats those who deface public monuments and that, perhaps, can inform whether we think the regulations need changing.
Damaging property that does not belong to you is a crime.
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