Criminal Law: Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and Law Reforms

CRIMINAL LAW

Introduction
Criminal law complies with the body of rules that has been made for all the crimes that
are being conducted by the individual. It covers all the laws which are being made in order to
frame the laws that endangers the property, health, moral welfare. The laws made for the
criminal law are being enacted by the legislature(Aksenova, and et. al., 2019). The criminal law
covers all the dispute resolution and also emphasis on the victim compensation and giving the
punishment to the person who has done the crime. This report will cover the offences against the
person Act 1861, and with that all the reforms which are set out by the Law commission in 2015
in order to frame the changes that are being made in it.
Overview of the Act
The offence against the person Act 1861 (OAPA), is an Act that has been consolidated in
England and was commenced in 1 November, 1861. this act covers all the offences that are being
raised against the person as by being the statute in all the single act. The main order of this act is
that it covers all the criminal offences that are being led out over there. This act implies all the
major importance of the methods that creates the intentional wounding and also the bodily harm.
This act implies that there are certain laws which covers all the segment of law and also provide
the crime roles that tends to be made in order to frame all the nature and the context being
created (Nikonov, 2019).
As this law act was being made earlier there are many changes which has been adapted in
all the areas as there has been seen that these laws are not for today's time. So there has been
framed that such laws should be amended with the reforms so the law commission has framed
and drafted various bills in order to make the amendments and the necessary changes that can
help in creating and maintaining the law and order in the country (Norrie, 2021). The main aim
for the reform is that law should always remain updated with all the changes that are being taken
place in the society, the he offence against the person Act 1861 has not actually covered the
major issues too that embraces the role of the offences of the minor injury and all the
transmissions that are being made by the sexual diseases like HIV(Beck, 2017). As when there
has been analysed in all the reforms there are various changes like the injury which is not being
mentioned.

Criticism
The OAPA is being widely criticised as that was the old legislation and it was difficult to
understand all the legislative approach in it. There were varies lack of coherence as all the
legislation there by being made were in lack of coherence (Eskauriatza, 2020). All the important
and the most sensible crimes there by were not being considered and a major punishment were
not being considered. Thus there were lack of some serious punishments which are opt to be
made as in order to frame all the statue crimes. In order to imply all the serious issue there is a
much need of making all the variable and the conducts that helps out in making and giving all the
serious punishments (Bosworth, 2017).
Recommendation
The law reform is being made and analysed that all the law and the offences are being
covered are not clear as there has not being given the essential information which is thereby
being required to be made clear in OAPA. There were various specialised offences which
involves all the factual areas that are being considered in general offences. There were so many
concepts that are not in the existence like felony and also the penal servitude. As when has been
clarified that there were some sections that are being covered in the unclear areas and seriousness
and also some of the area which have the sentencing powers. Some of the simple offences are
being covered in it,(Collins, and Ashworth, 2018).
In the other area there was a major issue of differentiation of physical and general injury
and that has been created that all the injury should be properly mentioned . All the bodily harm
and the actual body harm should be mentioned as it is important to mention that not only the
physical injury is being faced by the person but there has been identified a serious mental injury
too(McLaughlin, 2017). There has been implied that in all the nature and course the working of
the doctors and with that covering all the sexually transmitted diseases is necessary. The law
commission 2015 also applied that the disclosure of serious diseases or the sexually transmitted
disease are there by necessary as all the person will have to focus in that and there will have to be
given a proper detail about the HIV to the person. As not disclosing the disease will led to be a
crime for all the persons(Claessen, 2017).