Coroners and Justice Bill

If I range through the issues once more, I may cover the points that noble Lords wish to raise. Part 7 introduces a new civil scheme, through which courts can order a qualifying offender to repay any benefit derived from exploiting material pertaining to a relevant crime. We believe that it is wrong for a criminal to cash in by exploiting the story of his crime, especially in cases where the offence has already inflicted immense suffering on victims and their families. Currently there is no effective mechanism through which criminals’ profits from accounts of their crimes can be recovered. Allowing this situation to continue unchecked encourages the glorification of crime and perpetuates the notion that profiting from crime is acceptable. It does nothing to mitigate the pain and distress that such exploitation can cause to victims or their families or alleviate legitimate public concern about such profiting. This is not a form of censorship. The scheme does not prevent anyone writing about his crimes, however distasteful that may be. The mischief that the scheme addresses is criminals cashing in on their stories. The scheme can be invoked only where an application is made to the High Court by the enforcement authority. Whether an application will be made in a particular case will be at the discretion of the enforcement authority and with the consent of the Attorney-General, or the Advocate-General in Northern Ireland, who will act in the public interest. Where an application for an order is made, the criteria for the scheme are clear. The High Court will be able to order a criminal to repay only proceeds derived from exploiting material pertaining to an offence. These are, of course, the accounts that can cause the greatest distress to victims and their families. Publications about an offender’s life in prison or the steps he has taken to rehabilitate himself are unlikely to fall within the scope of the scheme, unless they include specific details about the commission of an offence. Even where the criteria for the scheme are met, it does not automatically follow that an order will be made. The court will have a wide discretion in deciding whether to make an order and in setting the amount that the offender has to repay. In exercising that discretion, the court will be required to consider a number of factors before deciding whether to impose an order and, if it does so, the amount. These include whether details about the offence are central or integral to the publication as a whole; the social, cultural or educational value of the publication; the extent to which the material is in the public interest; and the degree to which the publication causes offence to victims, their families or the general public. I am aware that my noble friend Lord Borrie has stated that these provisions are neither worth while nor desirable, a view supported by the noble Lord, Lord Lester, and the noble Baroness, Lady Stern. My noble friend’s contention is based on the fact that the scheme will be invoked only a couple of times each year and that the prison rules and existing legislation on confiscation of the proceeds of crime already prevent criminals benefiting from the publication of memoirs. Let me turn to each of my noble friend’s points in turn. It is true that we anticipate that the scheme will be invoked only a couple of times each year. This projection is based on the number of cases that have caused concern over the past few years, but just because the scheme will rarely be used does not mean that we should turn a blind eye to this problem. I cannot accept that we should send a message—