The laws on street artLiam Heeley

What type of street art is legal

Art House Manchester - This is a company that commission people to paint murals around manchester, mainly in the northern quarter

Legal graffiti walls - These are certain walls that have been dedicated to graffiti artists who want to spray on public walls, without getting into trouble

Semi permanent graffiti - This type of graffiti isn't permanent, as you can tell by the name, it allows the artist to wash it off the walls once they have took a picture or are happy with the final piece

Masking tape graffiti - This is one of the simplest types of street art, all it involves is a group or single artist to get a handful of masking tape; composting it onto a wall in a certain way to create an image

Legal images

What type of street art is illegal

Damaging personal property - This is illegal because graffiti artists are using people's property, that they pay for, for somewhere to create street art

Tagging - This type of graffiti is illegal because it means that a group or individual are using their name to ‘tag’ an area so their name is permanently on the area

Offensive graffiti - If a piece of graffiti is offending a certain group, it is obviously going to be illegal because it can cause personal hurt for a certain group of individual

Illegal images

What is the charge if you get caught

If somebody is caught doing graffiti, then they will be charged a fine up to £5,000, if the damage they have caused is less than £5,000

If the damage that they cause is over £5,000, then this will be referred to the crown court, where tougher punishments will take place

If it is a young offender committing this crime, they will be given community service instead of a fine

If somebody is suspected to be carrying graffiti materials on them, there is no law that allows them to be searched

In very serious circumstances, the perpetrators computer is allowed to be searched for images of illegal graffiti