Crime and Disorder Act 1998

The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 was an Act of Parliament, which made a number of important changes to the criminal law, in particular:
 * it introduced Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)
 * it introduced Sex Offender Orders
 * it created new offences of racially or religiously aggravated offences
 * it abolished the death penalty for piracy and treason.

During the course of the Bill in the Commons, Ann Keen MP introduced an amendment which would have reduced the age of consent for homosexual offences to 16 (17 in Northern Ireland]], the same as for heterosexual offences. The amendment passed the Commons but was rejected by the House of Lords. Equalisation was achieved two years later, by the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000.