Policy paper

Criminal Justice Bill: Serious crime

Updated 23 February 2024

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

What are we going to do?

We are going to ensure that the police and the courts have the necessary powers to tackle serious and organised crime. Measures in the Criminal Justice Bill will:

• create new powers to tackle serious and organised crime by banning articles that are used to commit serious crime including templates for 3D printed firearm components, pill presses, vehicle concealments, signal jammers used in vehicle theft and SIM farms
• improve serious crime prevention orders (SCPOs) to enable law enforcement agencies to more effectively manage offenders in our communities, help break their known links with organised crime gangs, and keep our streets safe
• strengthen the ability to apply corporate criminal liability to the makeup of modern corporations, particularly large complex structures

How are we going to do it?

The bill introduces two new, UK wide, offences to criminalise the importation, making, modifying, supplying, offering to supply and possession of specific articles for use in serious crime. These offences will apply where there is a reasonable suspicion that the relevant article will be used in connection with any serious offence. Articles covered by this offence include:

• templates used to 3D print firearm components
• vehicle concealments used to conceal goods or people
• pill presses and encapsulators

The maximum penalty for the offence will be five years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.

The bill also introduces two new offences to criminalise the possession, importation, making, adapting, supplying or offering to supply an electronic device (such as a signal jammer) for use in theft of a vehicle or theft of anything in a vehicle. The maximum penalty for these offences is five years’ imprisonment, an unlimited fine, or both.

The bill introduces another new offence of possessing or supplying devices known as “SIM farms”, subject to a defence where there is a good reason for their use and where adequate due diligence has been undertaken. The maximum penalty for the offence in England and Wales will be an unlimited fine. A power is also conferred on the Secretary of State, by secondary legislation, to introduce further new offences to criminalise the possession or supply of other specified articles, where there is a significant risk of them being used for fraud and following consultation with stakeholders.

The bill also amends the Serious Crime Act 2007 to strengthen and improve the operation of SCPOs. This bill will strengthen SCPOs by:

• enabling the National Crime Agency, the police (in all cases, not just those which are terrorism-related), British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police, and HMRC to apply directly to the High Court for an SCPO
• enabling the Crown Court to make an SCPO on acquittal, providing there is evidence that the defendant has been involved in serious crime, and there are reasonable grounds to believe that an SCPO would protect the public
• providing the courts with an express power to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of an SCPO
• setting a prescribed set of notification requirements attached to an SCPO, to improve consistency between law enforcement bodies in the monitoring and oversight of offenders

The bill also provides UK investigative agencies with the ability to apply for a court order to mandate the suspension of access to criminally associated domain names and IP addresses. These orders (an IP address suspension order or a domain name suspension order) can be served internationally, to ensure that any threat originating from outside the UK can be effectively tackled.

Lastly, the bill makes provision for corporate liability where a senior manager commits an offence while acting in the scope of their actual or apparent authority, for all crimes, replacing the provisions in Economic Crime Corporate Transparency Act 2023 which are confined to economic crimes.

Background

Articles used in serious crime

Serious and organised crime is a major threat to the national security and prosperity of the United Kingdom. Organised crime groups are turning to ever more sophisticated technologies, from templates allowing them to 3D print firearm components, to pill presses, to sophisticated concealed compartments in specially adapted vehicles that enable the smuggling of goods and people. None of these articles are currently illegal to possess. Additionally, corrupt individuals profit from supplying these articles to organised crime groups, enabling them to thrive whilst keeping just enough distance from the offences being carried out to avoid facing any consequences. Criminalising supply, importation, modification, offer to supply and manufacture of these articles, as well as possession, will enable law enforcement agencies to target these professional enablers as well as the criminals themselves.

A significant proportion of vehicle theft is driven by organised crime groups, which costs hundreds of millions of pounds in social and economic harm each year. There is a demand for stolen vehicles, which means this is a highly attractive and lucrative area for criminals to gain profit from selling stolen vehicles and vehicle parts. Particular makes and models are targeted due to their resale value, or stolen to order. Organised criminals find ways to overcome security measures, even in the latest vehicle models, by exploiting vulnerabilities in vehicles and new technologies.

Electronic devices include devices which manipulate the signal from remote locking devices, such as signal jammers and signal amplifiers.

Electronic devices used in vehicle theft are currently not, in themselves, illegal to possess. Offenders can be charged with going equipped to commit theft under section 5 of the Theft Act 1968; conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to handle stolen goods.

SCPOs

Serious crime prevention orders were introduced by the Serious Crime Act 2007. SCPOs are civil preventative orders which can impose tailored prohibitions, restrictions and requirements on a person (that is an individual, a body corporate (such as a company, partnership or unincorporated association) for a period of up to five years to prevent or disrupt their involvement in serious crime. The terms of an SCPO might relate to, for example: business and financial dealings, use of premises or items, provision of goods or services, employment of staff, association with individuals, means of communication or travel. Breach of an SCPO is a UK-wide criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. SCPOs are not currently being used to maximum effect and are used significantly less than anticipated at the time the 2007 Act was passed.

The Home Office ran an 8-week public consultation from 24 January to 21 March 2023, which sought views on proposals to create offences relating to articles used in serious crime and to strengthen the operation of SCPOs.

SIM Farms

As set out in the government’s Fraud Strategy, fraud now accounts for approximately 40% of all estimated crime in England and Wales. This is exacerbated by the increasing technological sophistication of the tools available to fraudsters, which allow them to target victims at scale.

Short Messaging Service (SMS) messages are a key method used by fraudsters to target the UK public and are frequently traced back to SIM farms.

SIM farms are available on popular online marketplaces, at low prices, with limited or no requirement to verify the buyer’s identity. This makes them an easy to access, low-cost option to fraudsters who deceive victims into giving sensitive information such as bank details.

The Home Office ran a public consultation on these measures from 3 May 2023 to 14 June 2023. Responses to the consultation agreed the government’s approach would raise the barrier to entry for those engaging in illegal activities, making it more difficult for them to obtain and exploit SIM farms for fraud. However, they raised concerns that there were some potential legitimate uses captured by the government’s definition of a SIM farm, where a ban risked affecting legitimate purposes of the technology; the bill includes a defence to the new criminal offence which cover legitimate uses. The majority of respondents did not object to the Secretary of State extending the ban to further articles in the future by secondary legislation, subject to very clear parameters.

The government’s response to the consultation and the way forward was published on 27 November 2023.

Suspension of domain names and IP addresses

Domain names are managed online by the “Domain Name System” (DNS), which helps users find their way around the Internet. An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique address given to every device on the internet which identifies it, is used to send information, and can be used to see content has been accessed on the internet. Domain names and IP addresses are frequently used for a range of cyber enabled crime, including fraud and computer misuse offences.

Industry can provide a technical change to ensure that a domain name or IP address is no longer able to facilitate crime. For domain names, the DNS record can be changed by the registrar or registry so the domain does not resolve to the criminal server. For IP addresses, the provider can alter its IP provision via removal of routing or through other technical means to ensure access is no longer available to the customer.

The UK currently utilises public / private partnerships where industry will voluntarily suspend domain names and IP address which are facilitating criminal activity in the domestic market in the vast majority of cases. This has resulted in the UK cyber landscape being one of the safest in the world. The government strongly supports these voluntary arrangements and they will continue be the first port of call for any activity in this space.

However, outside of the UK, many organisations ask for a court order before they will action requests. This is important, as cybercrime is inherently international and other jurisdictions may be less proactive in their approach than the UK. Individuals and businesses based in the UK could therefore be the victims of crime without law enforcement being able to tackle it effectively. The bill therefore introduces a formal process to order that providers of IP addresses and domain names must act to suspend access.

Identification doctrine reform

The Economic Crime Corporate Transparency Act 2023 places a strengthened form of the identification doctrine on a statutory footing. That is the legal test for deciding whether the actions and state of mind of a corporate body can be regarded as those of a natural person. Specifically, the Act makes provision for corporate liability where a senior manager commits an offence while acting in the scope of their actual or apparent authority, in relation to economic crime offences only. Although this will address shortcomings in corporate liability laws in a significant number of cases, the government acknowledged during the passage of the 2023 Act that wider reform is required to introduce corporate liability for all crimes. The government committed to pursue such wider reforms in the Economic Crime Plan 2 and the Fraud Strategy when a suitable legislative vehicle arose.

The bill adopts the definition of “senior manager” in the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. This model will look at what the senior manager’s roles and responsibilities are within the organisation - the level of managerial influence they might exert - rather than their job title. It covers instances where the senior manager is a person who plays a significant role in the making of decisions about the whole or a substantial part of the activities of the body corporate.

This will have the advantage of providing greater clarity on the parameters of the legal test and will also bring the law up to date to reflect modern company structures where directing minds are spread across different functions of business. It will enable prosecutions to progress in more cases where senior level employees who do exert decision making power are found to be involved in the offending.

Key facts

The Metropolitan Police Service estimates that in London, electronic devices are used in approximately 60% of vehicle theft.

According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, from April 2019 to March 2020, an offender manipulated signal from remote locking device was used in 36% of vehicle thefts (CSEW). The CSEW also shows there were 726,000 vehicle-related thefts in the year ending September 2023. This figure includes theft of a vehicle, theft from a vehicle and attempted thefts.

The Home Office’s (2019) Understanding Organised Crime paper estimated the social and economic cost of Serious Organised Acquisitive Crime to be £1.5bn in financial year 2015 to 2016. Organised vehicle crime accounts for £850m of this figure in financial year 2015 to 2016.

In the period June-August 2022, three quarters of people in the UK said they had received a suspicious message, in the form of either a text, recorded message or live voice call to a landline or mobile. This represents an estimated 40.8 million adults in the UK. An estimated 700,000 followed the scammer’s instructions, risking financial loss and significant emotional distress Ofcom, November 2022, Scams Survey

Texts are the most common form of suspicious message with more than six in 10 people (65% of respondents) reporting that they had received suspicious texts.

SCPOs are a powerful tool for preventing and disrupting the activities of the highest-harm criminals involved in serious crime. However, the orders are not currently being used to maximum effect. For example, between 2011 and 2021, only two applications were made to the High Court for an SCPO in the absence of a conviction, of which only one was successful. This is compared to a total of 1057 SCPOs being made in the Crown Court on conviction in the same period.

The 2016 HMICFRS PEEL Police Effectiveness report found that only 13 of the 43 police forces had clear arrangements in place for monitoring SCPOs. Standardising the personal information which law enforcement agencies record in relation to individuals subject to an SCPO would help to improve consistency of case management.

Frequently asked questions

Articles used in serious crime.

Q. What is defined as a ‘serious crime’ for the purposes of the new criminal offences? 

For the purposes of these criminal offences, the definition of serious crime will include serious offences specified in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Serious Crime Act 2007. This list includes offences such as of drug trafficking, people trafficking, bribery or armed robbery.

The government considered other serious offences against the person such as murder, kidnap, grievous bodily harm, sexual offences against children and other sexual offences. However, after careful analysis, the government considers the existing list of serious crimes under Schedule 1 to be sufficient for the purpose of these new offences and will not seek to widen this definition further.

Q. Why does the new criminal offence only include a few specific tools? How did you decide which articles to include?

The government has engaged extensively with law enforcement partners about the common threats they are seeing and the emerging tools that are being used more and more in serious criminality. We also ran an 8-week public consultation between 21st January 2023 and 24th March 2023 on articles suggested for inclusion, and published our consultation response on 14 November.

The bill includes a power to amend the list of specified articles via secondary legislation, to ensure that we can update the list of articles as the technologies used by these criminals evolve.

We will continue to consult with law enforcement agencies and industry professionals, to establish the threat and priority level of these articles and keep the list of articles covered by this offence under review.

Q. What are these templates / pill presses / vehicle concealments used for?

These are all articles that law enforcement agencies have highlighted as emerging tools used in serious criminality.

Sophisticated concealments in specially adapted vehicles enable organised crime groups to move around goods, such as drugs, firearms or even people.

Pill presses are used by organised crime groups to manufacture illicit benzodiazepines, damaging and dangerous drugs that impact our communities.

Hybrid firearm designs using 3D printed components allow criminals to manufacture illicit firearms. The templates which produce firearm components will now be covered under this criminal offence.

Q. Will you be banning other devices you consulted on, such as encro phones?

The government will not be banning these devices at this time. A number of concerns were raised during the consultation about the inclusion of sophisticated encrypted devices. Given the ubiquitous use of encrypted technologies, law enforcement and criminal justice partners could face substantial difficulty in identifying those which should be considered criminally dedicated.

We recognise the concerns raised and do not want this legislation to inappropriately criminalise technologies used in everyday lawful activity. We will keep this under review and continue to assess the emerging evidence to ensure that the offences keep pace with the evolving threat.

SCPOs

Q. What kind of criminal activity are SCPOs used to prevent?

Serious crime prevention orders aim to protect the public by preventing, restricting or disrupting involvement in serious crime. These orders are used against those who are involved or suspected to be involved in serious crime.

Serious and organised crime is carried out by individuals planning, coordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and/or as part of transnational networks. The main categories of offences covered are child sexual exploitation and abuse, illegal drugs, illegal firearms, fraud, money laundering and other economic crime, bribery and corruption, organised immigration crime, modern slavery, human trafficking and cyber-crime.

SIM Farms

Q. What are SIM farms?

A SIM farm is a device which is capable of using five or more SIM cards to make phone calls or send SMS text messages through radio frequencies.

SIM farms are used by criminals to send out thousands of scam texts to defraud the UK public of millions of pounds.

Q. What are you trying to achieve?

SIM farms are currently sold openly on online marketplaces, and it is legal to possess them even though there is clear evidence that, apart from a few legitimate uses, there is no good reason to possess one, other than to commit fraud.

The bill will ensure that these devices are not sold without adequate due diligence by the seller and that no one should be in possession of a SIM farm without a clear legitimate rationale.

By doing this, we would make it difficult and unprofitable for criminals to get hold of SIM farms and use them to defraud the public.

The new offence will also bolster law enforcement agencies in investigating and disrupting criminals who are in possession of a SIM farm but have not yet started launching a fraudulent campaign.

Q. A number of sectors use SIM farms for legitimate purposes. How will you ensure the legislation does not disrupt legitimate businesses?

The legislation will stop fraud at source without placing an undue burden on legitimate businesses.

The Home Office held a public consultation on the proposals to ban SIM farms and engaged extensively with a variety of stakeholders, including legitimate businesses. We have considered their responses during the drafting of the new offence and have developed defences to ensure legitimate business is not disrupted.

Q. Are powers to ban further technologies proportionate?

The pace of technological change is rapid and fraudsters are quick to adapt their methods to take advantage of emerging capabilities and any attempts to disrupt their illegal activities.

These powers are necessary to ensure that we are able to respond to any new threats that emerge in the future rapidly and flexibly by extending the ban to other types of equipment, if required.

Any new offence will only be introduced where there is clear evidence of significant risk that the technologies in question are used in connection with fraud and the bill contains an express requirement to consult those likely to be affected by the ban prior to introducing any new offence.

Any regulations introducing a new offence must be debated and approved by both Houses of Parliament.

Suspension of domain names and IP addresses

Q. If the voluntary arrangements are working effectively, why do we need this provision?

The voluntary arrangements currently in action with industry are crucial in ensuring the UK remains one of the world’s safest cyber spaces. The existing voluntary arrangements will remain the first port of call for domain name and IP address suspension. However, there are instances where the voluntary arrangements are not effective. This includes when the organisation will not respond to a law enforcement agency’s request, or when law enforcement agencies are seeking to act collectively with international counterparts in response to criminal activity that involves multiple jurisdictions. We expect orders against domestic providers to be rarely needed.

In addition, outside of the UK’s internet infrastructure which hosts a relatively low proportion of internet enabled crime, voluntary action is less likely. Many organisations based outside of the UK ask for a court order before they take action. UK law enforcement agencies need an order to formally request action by organisations outside of the UK.

Q. How will you ensure this power doesn’t cause unintended consequences?

There are multiple safeguards built in to ensure the domain name and IP address provision is used proportionately.

A senior officer, of the rank of superintendent or above (or equivalent) must make or authorise the application for a domain name suspension order or an IP address suspension order. The court must only grant that application if the conditions for doing so are satisfied, which includes the specific consideration of whether the action is both necessary and proportionate to disrupt the criminality taking place.

Finally, upon serving the order on the internet infrastructure provider, the provider or any other person affected by it can apply to the court to have the order varied or discharged.

Investigative agencies have good relationships with domestic internet infrastructure providers, and will continue to look to work with them to ensure that the risks to any action taken is mitigated as far as possible.

Q. How do you expect to achieve action overseas? We have no jurisdiction.

With regard to both domain names and IP addresses, there are international governance arrangements in place for providers which are designed to help in the response to criminal activity. The Internet Organisation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), for example, which governs the provision of internet numbering, provides guidance to its members on recognising court orders from other jurisdictions.

If an overseas company did not respond favourably, police-to-police cooperation and Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) would be considered. The UK is party to a number of treaties on MLA in criminal matters which cover state cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of crimes.

Q. Could the power be used to limit freedom of expression?

The court must be satisfied that the action is necessary and proportionate and that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the domain or IP address is being used for criminality.

Given the scale and impact of criminal use of domain names and IP addresses, it is considered the power is necessary in the disruption and prevention of crime, and to protect the public from threats both at home and abroad.

Identification doctrine

Q. What is the penalty for the corporation?

The company will be criminally convicted and receive a fine, in addition to any sentences imposed for individuals who are also found guilty of the same offence(s).

The maximum fine will depend on the particular offence charged, but for most serious crimes an unlimited fine will be available.

Q. Are the measures fair and proportionate to small and medium sized businesses?

Yes. The measures in the Economic Crime Corporate Transparency Act 2023 were intended to level the playing field between small and large companies. The measures in this bill simply expand the types of offences that a corporate may be convicted for.

Under the common law principle, developed prior to the introduction of that Act, small and micro companies were disadvantaged. Those firms are more likely to have one or two directors with oversight of all of a company’s operations, who could be charged. In a large corporate with complex governance structures, where responsibilities are shared far and wide, it had proven difficult for prosecutors to identify any person to meet the criminal threshold.

It is important that the playing field is levelled, and small and medium sized businesses are not unfairly penalised. Reform of the identification doctrine to extend it to senior managers as defined in the bill intends to mitigate the unfairness by better reflecting the make-up of large companies with diffuse decision making structures.