Sexual Offences Act 2003 - Report Example

Sexual Offences Act 2003: A Review [Name of Presenter] [Name of Institution] Sexual Offences Act 2003: A Review The Sexual Offences Act 2003 was passed by the parliament of the United Kingdom in the year 2003 and it became law on the 1st of May, 2004. It replaced the entire gamut of older sexual offences laws with more explicit terminology and wordings and created several new offences such as assault by penetration, voyeurism, forceful attempt to make a child watch a sexual act and necrophilia. The Act makes several changes to the UK’s existing sexual crime laws, reforming those even dating back to as far as the Sexual Offences Act of 1956. The definition of rape in the new Act reads as follows: (1) A person (A) commits an offence if- (a) he intentionally penetrates the vagina, anus or mouth of another person (B) with his penis, (b) B does not consent to the penetration, and (c) A does not reasonably believe that B consents. (2) Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents. (3) Sections 75 and 76 apply to an offence under this section. (4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life. Assault 2 Assault by penetration (1) A person (A) commits an offence if- (a) he intentionally penetrates the vagina or anus of another person (B) with a part of his body or anything else, (b) the penetration is sexual, (c) B does not consent to the penetration, and (d) A does not reasonably believe that B consents. (2) Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents. (3) Sections 75 and 76 apply to an offence under this section. (4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life. 3 Sexual assault (1) A person (A) commits an offence if- (a) he intentionally touches another person (B), (b) the touching is sexual, (c) B does not consent to the touching, and (d) A does not reasonably believe that B consents. (2) Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents. (3) Sections 75 and 76 apply to an offence under this section. (4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable- (a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both; (b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years. Causing sexual activity without consent 4 Causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent (1) A person (A) commits an offence if- (a) he intentionally causes another person (B) to engage in an activity, (b) the activity is sexual, (c) B does not consent to engaging in the activity, and (d) A does not reasonably believe that B consents. (2) Whether a belief is reasonable is to be determined having regard to all the circumstances, including any steps A has taken to ascertain whether B consents. (3) Sections 75 and 76 apply to an offence under this section. (4) A person guilty of an offence under this section, if the activity caused involved- (a) penetration of B's anus or vagina, (b) penetration of B's mouth with a person's penis, (c) penetration of a person's anus or vagina with a part of B's body or by B with anything else, or (d) penetration of a person's mouth with B's penis, is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life. (5) Unless subsection (4) applies, a person guilty of an offence under this section is liable- (a) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both; (b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years. In the previous laws, the definition of rape did not include the penetration of the mouth. The previous Act was had a lot of ambiguity in the definition of consent. The new legislation however is very tight in its definition of consent and the concerns have been mentioned specifically, in no uncertain terms. Sections 75 and 76 are dedicated to circumstances where lack of consent may be presumed and specific supportive argument to this effect need not be made in a court of law. Assault by penetration has been termed as a new offence and includes the penetration of the vaginal and anal canals with any object and not necessarily the sexual organs alone. Even people who travel abroad to commit such offences may be reprimanded and their passports seized and restricted. However court cases in this respect have been counterproductive and have come under severe criticism due to the complexities involved and the profile of the litigants. The definition of child pornography has also been amended to include images of 16 and 17 year olds though the age of consent has been retained at 16 years. The Act has been under the spotlight for its good as well as its bad. For one thing, the public display of sexual affection, even hugging by underage people have been made an offence and thus illegal. However the under note here cautions that neither the home department, nor the police should enforce this provision unless the act is so vulgar and offends the social morale. Even though the provision has been included, cannot be under planked since it would bear negative consequences in other child-protection legislations. Criticism comes from Action on Rights for Children: "Laws should mean what they say. It's astonishing that the government could consider legislation with the prior intent of issuing guidance to countermand it. I worry about the message it sends to young people - it seems to say that sometimes the law means what it says and sometimes it doesn't." Spokesperson Terri Dowty also fears that it could lead to unreasonable private prosecutions, such as by angry parents who don't like their child's boyfriend or girlfriend. "What the Home Office would say was that they wanted to use the criminal law for symbolic impact, to say that it's not a good thing for kids to be having sex. My counter-argument is that the criminal law is too dangerous a tool to be used for symbolic purposes. With this on the statute book, it will give police and prosecutors a lot of discretion. It could be used as a way of controlling kids who perhaps the police want to control for other reasons. Kids who perhaps are a nuisance or who belong to a group who attract the attention of the police in some way." Comments of Professor Nicola Lacey of the London School of Economics. (The Guardian Daily) The 2003 Act repealed the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and several other statutes that were in place to deal with sexual offences. Section 141 of the Act gave special powers to the home secretary to draft rules by statutory instruments to aid the transition from the old to the new laws. No other transitional provisions were given in the new law. The provisions say that if an act of sexual offence was conducted before the 1t of May 2004, a date before the new law was enacted, but was charged after the new law came in to force, then he had to be found not guilty, regardless of how strong the evidence against him was. Foe example, an offence may be an offence under both the laws, but it can only be charged according to the provisions of one law. In such cases, where the prosecution could not prove either, then he is declared not guilty and is honourably exonerated of all charges. The appeals court had to vie with this problem in December 2005 for the first time when the prosecution appealed against the judicial order to acquit a person for this reason. In dismissing the appeal, Lord Justice Rose commented “"If a history of criminal legislation ever comes to be written it is unlikely that 2003 will be identified as a year of exemplary skill in the annals of Parliamentary drafting." However this situation was not resolved until section 55 of the Violent Crimes Reduction Act 2006 came in to force in February of 2007. The act though widely criticised as a draconian attempt to curb civil rights in the United Kingdom, assures protection to each citizen of the country in a manner much better than older legislation. The move has come at the right time where the old legislations were crying for help in dealing with internationalisation of crime and the advent of the internet and its usage as a tool by criminals. The new legislation has laid out in terms devoid of any scope for ambiguity, what constitutes an offence and what does not. Though the provisions do provide for legal misuse to settle personal scores, the democratic framework and the strong judiciary in true course would exercise due discretion in implementing the law. However the non implementation of such a legislation would have done our world more harm than the misuse of implementation of such a law. Bibliography: R v C, [2005] EWCA Crim 3533; (2006) 1 Cr App R 28; Times, January 05, 2006 Sexual Offences Act 2003, ISBN 0 10 544203 8 Website of The Crown Prosecution Office available at http://cps.gov.uk accessed on the 09th of March 2007. ACEVO The professional organisation for chief executives in the voluntary sector. www.acevo.org.uk Brook Helpline and online enquiry service with free, confidential sexual health advice and contraception to young people up to the age of 25. www.brook.org.uk Business Link Support, advice and information service for small businesses, run by the Department for Trade and Industry. www.businesslink.gov.uk Mencap A leading learning disability charity working with people with a learning disability and their families and careers. www.mencap.org.uk National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations Umbrella organisation for registered charities that work with children, young people and their families. www.ncvcco.org.uk NCVO Umbrella body for the voluntary sector in England. Their website,‘askNCVO’, is a best practice resource for the voluntary sector. www.ncvo-vol.org.uk www.askncvo.org.uk NSPCC Inform Website to share information with researchers, trainers and practitioners working to protect children. www.nspcc.org.uk/inform The Archives of the Guardian Daily published electronically at www.guardian.co.uk/Archive on the 10thof March 2007 "Teenage kissing: The new sex crime?" by Giles Wilson, BBC, 30 April 2004 Frese, B., Moya, M., & Megius, J. L. (2004). Social Perception of Rape: How Rape Myth Acceptance Modulates the Influence of Situational Factors. Journal-of-Interpersonal-Violence, 19(2), 143-161 D.P.P. v Majewski (1976) 62 Cr.App. R. 262 at p.270 (1982) 74 Cr. App. R. 312 Fotheringham (1989) 88 Cr App R 206 ‘Problems with the Sexual Offences Act 2003’ by His Honour D.A.H.Rodwell QC 2005 Crim.L.R. 290 Robert Ward CBE, “Rook and Ward on sexual offences : law and practice” , Sweet and Maxwell 2004 R v H (2005) 2 CAR 149 Sheehan and Moore 60 Cr.App. R. 308 at p.312 [2004] EWCA Crim 2672, followed in Minshull [2004] EWCA Crim 2673 Read More