Coroners and Justice Act 2009

The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (c. 25) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the law on coroners and criminal justice in England and Wales.

Coroners and Justice Act 2009

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to amend the law relating to coroners, to investigation of deaths and to certification and registration of deaths; to amend the criminal law; to make provision about criminal justice and about dealing with offenders; to make provision about the Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses; to make provision relating to the security of court and other buildings; to make provision about legal aid and about payments for legal services provided in connection with employment matters; to make provision for payments to be made by offenders in respect of benefits derived from the exploitation of material pertaining to offences; to amend the Data Protection Act 1998; and for connected purposes.
Citation	2009 c. 25
Introduced by	Jack Straw (Commons) Lord Bach (Lords)
Territorial extent	England and Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	12 November 2009
Commencement	12 November 2009 (in part) 14 December 2009 (in part) 10 January 2010 (in part) 12 January 2010 (in part) 1 February 2010 (in part)
Status: Current legislation
History of passage through Parliament
Records of Parliamentary debate relating to the statute from Hansard
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

Among its provisions are:

• preventing criminals from profiting from publications about their crimes[1]
• abolishing the anachronistic offences of sedition and seditious, defamatory and obscene libel[2]
• re-enacting the provisions of the emergency Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Act 2008 so that the courts may continue to grant anonymity to vulnerable or intimidated witnesses where this is consistent with a defendant's right to a fair trial[1]
• criminalising possession of pornographic non-photographic images depicting under-18s, and of adults where the "predominant impression conveyed" is of a person under the age of 18.[3]
• criminalising the holding of someone in slavery or servitude, or requiring them to perform forced or compulsory labour[4]
• provision for the abolition of the office of Coroner of the Queen's Household.[5]
• creation of the partial defence of loss of control.[6]

The Act makes it illegal to own any picture depicting under-18s participating in sexual activities, or depictions of sexual activity in the presence of someone under 18. The law has been condemned by a coalition of graphic artists, publishers and MPs, fearing it will criminalise graphic novels such as Lost Girls and Watchmen.[7] These sections came into effect on 6 April 2010.[8]

The Act contains measures to reform the coroner system. According to the Institute of Legal Executives, "There is provision, carefully circumscribed, for the establishment of a judicial inquiry under the 2005 Inquiries Act to take the place of an inquest, where there is highly sensitive evidence (typically intercept) and it would not be possible to have an Article 2 compliant inquest. These provisions will be used in rare cases only."[2]

The most controversial aspect of the bill are the provisions regarding secret inquests. The provisions had previously been mulled as part of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, though ultimately they were dropped before the Counter-Terrorism Bill was finalised. Last-minute concessions, as the Coroners and Justice Bill passed through Parliament, included giving the Lord Chief Justice the power to veto any requests for private inquests and also the power to decide who the judge is.[9]