Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018: Effective deterrent or empty gesture?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19164/ijmhcl.29.1358Abstract
In 2018, following a significant increase in violence against NHS staff and others serving the public, the UK Parliament passed a piece of legislation which included the creation of a new offence category, ‘Assault against an Emergency Worker’. The intention was to codify the aggravating nature of assaults against emergency workers as a reflection of the moral outrage such behaviour should attract. However, the actual implementation of this law has been criticised as adding very little to the lofty promises of promoting a “zero tolerance” culture. In this paper we review the new legal framework and attempt to highlight potential effects arising from its implementation.
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Copyright (c) 2023 Catherine Weeks, Trevor Broughton
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