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Incitement
The offence of incitement takes place when one person seeks to persuade another to commit a crime. The provisions for codification of the offence of incitement are based on clauses in the English Law Commission Draft Criminal Code. The more significant provisions provide for:
a statutory definition of the offence of incitement, set out in new section 159M; and
* retention of the offence of incitement to conspire as recommended by the Law Reform Commission because of its importance in the context of triad crime, which relates to long term conspiracies such as those involving gambling, prostitution and drugs.
Defence of Impossibility
In respect of each of the three offences, the Bill removes the defence of impossibility, in line with the Commission's proposal. New section 159H, for instance, deals with that defence in relation to attempt and addresses the situation where the offender has the necessary guilty mind to commit an offence but because of some fact of which he is ignorant or about which he is mistaken, the result he intended could not be achieved, or if it could be achieved, would not give rise to the crime he intended to commit. Under current law, for instance, a would-be pickpocket who attempts to steal from an empty pocket could plead the defence of impossibility. The Bill proposes to remove such a defence, on the basis (as argued by the Commission) that "it leads to the acquittal of individuals who would otherwise be considered a danger to society".
The Bill is part of an on-going process in my department of keeping the criminal law under constant review and reform to ensure that it is more accessible, comprehensible, consistent and certain..
Mr President. I commend the Bill to the Council.
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