New legislation will create a powerful criminal offence to target individuals planning mass killings, equating those actions to terrorism. The Home Secretary emphasized the need for the justice system to address violence-fixated offenders lacking specific ideological motivation. This legal gap, illustrated by the Southport attack, prevented prior arrests of individuals like Axel Rudakubana. With new police powers, authorities can now intervene before such acts occur, recognizing the serious implications of potentially mass violent attacks.
"There is a gap in the law around the planning of mass attacks that can be just as serious [as terrorism] in their implications for communities, their impact, the devastation that they can cause and the seriousness of the crime."
"The government will 'close the gap' between such offenders and lone, violence-obsessed individuals by giving police the power to apprehend them long before they can act."
"Terror suspects who take steps towards an attack can be jailed for life, even if their plans are not fully formed."
"The criminal justice system had to be given new tools to respond to violence-fixated individuals who are not motivated by a particular ideology."
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