11. Criminal Damage

This chapter discusses the law and theory on criminal damage. Criminal damage involves the defendant intentionally or recklessly destroying or damaging property belonging to another. The defendant will have a defence if he or she was acting with a lawful excuse. Four criminal damage offences are found in the Criminal Damage Act 1971: basic criminal damage, arson, aggravated criminal damage, and aggravated arson. There is also an offence of racially aggravated criminal damage. The chapter also considers the Computer Misuse Act 1990, which was designed to protect information kept on computers.