Supporters guilty of ‘disgusting’ homophobic football chants. I do not look for this stuff …

 

1. Well, this post sent me scrambling for references in British Criminal Law.  No explicit threats of specific violence were uttered yet someone is facing criminal charges for what they said?

   Football (Offences) Act 1991 (c.19) - See (3):  Indecent or racialist chanting

   Also:  Lords Hansard text for 16 Nov 2004 - Search on “Football: Indecent Chanting” and read Lord Pendry’s question, and Baroness Scotland of Asthal’s response.

   “There is no legal definition of ‘indecent’ and no definition in law of ‘indecent chanting’ under Section 3 of the Football (Offences) Act 1991. The police and courts have to determine whether a football chant is ‘indecent’. Ultimately, each case has to be treated on its merits.”

   So the UK has criminalized a completely subjective thing:  The act of offending another.

   The guillotines should have come out back when this law was first proposed and put to good use to restore liberty and curtail tyranny.

   Posted by Argentium G. Tiger       05/18/2009  at  07:34 AM  

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