If you could change an existing law, what would you change??

[roaringwater]

Serious question. Of all the laws currently in existence (UK), which do you think should be different?

(It came up as a conversation with friends and caused much discussion. I didn't feel knowledgeable enough to contribute greatly).

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All child sexual offenders must have a custodial sentence and undergo therapy during the sentence.

Thank you. What a terrifying idea that they don't already...

The law that means we put the clocks back in winter. I'd like BST all year round.

Hmmm. Very interesting question!

Place marking and will have a think.

Legalisation of psychedelic drugs

@roaringwater the vast majority of (if not all) child sex offenders are offered some sort of intervention. Whether or not they choose to engage with it is a different matter.

No fault presumption in ALL accidents involving people in non powered transport hit by people in cars vans etc.

So the car driver etc has to prove it wasn't their fault they knocked over a cyclist, horse rider etc.

Its a law that is wide spread in europe.

I would make it illegal for water companies to dump raw sewage (along with its associated rubbish) into the rivers.
I would give them one year and an appropriate level of funding to improve the infrastructure to enable them to avoid the dumping. After 1 year it would be hefty fines and prison sentences for doing it.

I have soooo many.

Chiefly, sex included in hate crime legislation or no protected characteristics included. Can't exclude misogyny but include everything else.

Decriminalise all drugs.

But many others too!

Night jail for deadbeat dads. Go to work in the day, then straight to jail at 5pm until child support is brought up to date. Rinse and repeat as needed.

@shamalidacdak

Night jail for deadbeat dads. Go to work in the day, then straight to jail at 5pm until child support is brought up to date. Rinse and repeat as needed.

And this. Plus jail time, removing licences, just make CM compulsory.

Non resident parent to have child maintenance payments charged against them the same as council tax. Decent minimum level set that ensures child won't live in poverty. The law in the US looks like a good model to me.

Abolition of the concept of 'hate' crime, Christ, it's straight out of George Orwell.

@Brahumbug you are right, the current situation is completely out of hand.

the prohibition of weed, i'd like it legalised.

Harsher penalties for parents, resident or not, for failure to support a child financially themselves.

Lifetime driving ban for drink driving, under the influence of drugs or no insurance.

Ban car journeys under a certain distance for environmental reasons.

I would reverse the cuts to legal aid. So many people fall through the cracks Many people on modest incomes aren’t eligible for legal aid, and if they’re charged with a serious offence, they sometimes have to sell their homes in order to fund their defence privately. If they’re acquitted, the state doesn’t reimburse all their legal costs.

Also, there are so many first-hand stories on here of women who need to attend multiple Family Court hearings due to their abusive or vindictive exes. Some of these women have little choice but to spend more than they can afford on legal representation. Sometimes, these women have to give up on justice, because they just can’t afford to take their case any further.

Nearly all laws regarding technology, data sharing, contracts, cookies.... It needs something much more dynamic because things are moving too fast.
I'd also make a law that takes all the life savings off every single board member of a company involved in a scandal on the scale of Grenfell. I'd like the judge to at least have that option. I'd like it to hurt even peripheral people so that the consequences of a cost cutting exercise like that were too horrific to contemplate.
I'd like to see a legal structure like benefit corporations brought in like they have been in Italy and the US where companies choose a new form of statute that considers the environment and people, and not just shareholder's dividends. That way we could actively choose companies who have opted to be measured openly in those terms, and ditch the ones that aren't accountable or perform badly on those things. Maybe it's green washing but it would surely make them think about it a little.

Decriminalise most drugs.
Not sure the specific law but basically strip back police powers.
Regulators on cyber security who basically know what they're doing.

@shamalidacdak

Night jail for deadbeat dads. Go to work in the day, then straight to jail at 5pm until child support is brought up to date. Rinse and repeat as needed.

New Labour tried something similar back in 2004. It was called the Intermittent Custody Pilot - it didn't work. Courts didn't like issuing the orders even though the aim of the pilot was to impose a custodial sentence but ensure that people could retain work/benefits as losing employment due to a prison sentence costs a lot! So, the idea was that employed people would be in custody at weekends until their custodial sentence was served and to maximise the prison estate people on benefits would have 3 or 4 day custodial sentences served during the week continuing til their custodial sentence was served.

I'd like to legalise same-sex marriage in the C of E, though that's Church law rather than state law.

Meaningful penalties for non-paying NRPs, I think. Our system seems so hopeless in this country.

Except for disabled people though @Icecreamandcandyfloss. I'd never be able to leave my house otherwise!
Chemical castration for child sex offenders. At least. Custodial sentences too.