Racial and Religious Hatred Bill

My Lords, there is no doubt that the offence of desecration arouses extremely strong feelings. We had plenty of evidence of that in the Select Committee. We must consider whether, as my noble friend hinted, the problem is one of adequate penalties under the existing law or of the difficulties that the police have in bringing cases to court. Criminal damage attracts a penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment for the basic offence, which can go up to 14 years if the offence is religiously aggravated. The problem is not one of the inadequacy of the penalties that are available but of the difficulties the police have in catching the perpetrators of the offences described by my noble friend and bringing them to court.