UK Offence Report

Regulation 39

paragraph 1(2) of SCHEDULE 3 of The Royal Ulster Constabulary (Conduct) Regulations 2000

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

2 In this paragraph an “imprisonable offence” means an offence which is punishable with imprisonment in the case of

a person aged

21 or over.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach paragraph 1(2) of SCHEDULE 3?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Conduct) Regulations 2000.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
23 October 2000
In force from
6 November 2000
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These regulations set out the procedures to be followed where an officer’s conduct is suspected of falling below the standard set out in the Code of Conduct, contained in Schedule 4. The regulations apply to members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary below the rank of Assistant Chief Constable and to all members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve. They replace Part II of, and Schedules 2 and 4 to, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Discipline and Disciplinary Appeals) Regulations 1988, and all of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve (Part-time) (Discipline and Disciplinary Appeals) Regulations 1988 which, along with the amending regulations specified in Schedule 1, are hereby revoked. Part I provides for the commencement and interpretation of the regulations, defines the limitation of application and makes the appropriate revocations and necessary transitional arrangements. Part II provides for the suspension of the officer concerned where the chief constable considers appropriate, and for the investigation of the conduct to which the report, complaint or allegation relates. Part III provides for the hearing of the case, the various parties who may be required or permitted to attend the hearing, the documentation to be made available to them, and the sanctions which may be imposed. Part IV provides for the officer concerned to have the finding of the hearing or the sanction imposed or both reviewed by the Chief Constable or, in his absence, by another senior officer.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.60.

Basis
the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.60 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source