Fear or provocation of violence is a statutory offense in England and Wales created by section 4 of the Public Order Act 1986, replacing an earlier offense under the Public Order Act 1936. It criminalizes using threatening behavior, or displaying threatening writing or images, with intent to cause a person to believe that immediate unlawful violence will be used, or to provoke such violence. It is tried summarily and is punishable by up to six months imprisonment, a fine, or both.
Facts
Typical PenaltyImprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both (summary offence). 1 Elements of OffenseUsing towards another person threatening behaviour, or distributing or displaying to another person any threatening writing, sign or other visible representation, with intent to cause that person to believe that immediate unlawful violence will be used, or to provoke its immediate use. 1 Classification
Offense GradeMinor or Summary Offense 1 Connections
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: England, found in there.
Sources
1. Fear or provocation of violence (Wikipedia)
Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_or_provocation_of_violence, lead paragraph
Fear or provocation of violence is a statutory offence in England and Wales created under the Public Order Act 1986.
Mode of trial and sentence
for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding
Statutory text, section 4(1) of the Public Order Act 1986
with intent to cause that person to believe that immediate unlawful violence will be used against him or another by any person, or to provoke the immediate use of unlawful violence by that person or another, or whereby that person is likely to believe that such violence will be used or it is likely that such violence will be provoked.
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