There are a number of sexual offences under the law of England and Wales, the law of Scotland, and the law of Northern Ireland (which function as three separate systems for this purpose).
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There are a number of sexual offences under the law of England and Wales, the law of Scotland, and the law of Northern Ireland (which function as three separate systems for this purpose).
Rape has the same statutory definition for all three jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction has its own case law on the interpretation of that legislation. The statutory definition is:
If a person ("A"), with A's penis – penetrates to any extent, without (1) another person ("B") consenting, and (2) without any reasonable belief that B consents, either intending to do so or reckless as to whether there is penetration, the vagina, anus or mouth of B then – A commits an offence, to be known as the offence of rape. [1] [2] [3]
It is therefore only legally possible for a cisgender woman to be guilty of rape if they assist a male assailant in an attack on a third party. Otherwise, a female can be charged with assault by penetration or causing sexual activity without consent, both of which carry similar sentences to rape. [4] If a man has sex with someone under the age of 16 then he is also guilty of rape as a child cannot lawfully consent to sex. [5]
Of women aged 16 to 59 in England & Wales interviewed for the 2006/07 British Crime Survey, 0.5% (1 in every 200) reported that they had suffered rape or attempted rape in the previous year, equating to approximately 85,000 nationally. In the same year, less than 800 persons were convicted of rape. [6] [7]
In England and Wales, there are non-consensual offences of rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault, and sexual activity without consent. [8] There are a number of sexual offences against children under 13, [9] against children under 16, [10] and against child family members. [11] There are a number of sexual offences of abuse of position of trust. [12] There are a number of sexual offences against persons with a mental disorder impeding choice, [13] and of using inducement, threat or deception against person with a mental disorder. [14] There are a number of sexual offences that consist of conduct by care workers against persons with a mental disorder. [15] There is an offence of paying for sexual services of a child, [16] a number of offences relating to child prostitution or pornography, [17] and number of offences relating to indecent photographs of children. [18] There is an offence of extreme pornography. [19] There are offences of loitering or soliciting for purposes of prostitution, [20] and causing, inciting or controlling prostitution for gain. [21] There is an offence of paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force. [22] There are a number of offences relating to brothels and premises used for prostitution. [23] There are a number of offences of trafficking for sexual exploitation, [24] a number of sexual preparatory offences, [25] and a number of offences of sex with an adult relative. [26] There are offences of exposure, voyeurism, bestiality, necrophilia and sexual activity in a public lavatory. [27]
There are notification requirements for sexual offenders. [28] There are powers to impose notification orders, sexual harm prevention orders and sexual risk orders on sexual offenders. [29] There are powers of entry and search against the homes of sexual offenders. [30]
There is statutory provision for the anonymity of victims of sexual offences. [31]
In Northern Ireland, there are offences of rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault and sexual activity without consent. [32] There are a number of sexual offences against children under 13, [33] against children under 16, [34] and against child family members. [35] There are a number of sexual offences of abuse of position of trust. [36] There is an offence of paying for sexual services of a child, [37] a number of offences relating to child prostitution or pornography, [38] and number of offences relating to indecent photographs of children. [39] There are a number of sexual offences against persons with a mental disorder impeding choice, [40] and of using inducement, threat or deception against person with a mental disorder. [41] There are a number of sexual offences that consist of conduct by care workers against persons with a mental disorder. [42] There is an offence of extreme pornography. [43] There are offences of loitering or soliciting for purposes of prostitution, kerb-crawling and persistent soliciting, [44] There are a number of offences of causing, inciting or controlling prostitution for gain, [45] and there is an offence of keeping a brothel used for prostitution. [46] There is an offence of paying for sexual services of a person. [47] There are a number of sexual preparatory offences, [48] and a number of offences of sex with an adult relative. [49] There are offences of exposure, voyeurism, bestiality, necrophilia and sexual activity in a public lavatory. [50]
In Scotland, there are offences of rape, sexual assault by penetration, sexual assault, sexual coercion, coercing a person into being present during a sexual activity, coercing a person into looking at a sexual image, communicating indecently, sexual exposure, voyeurism, and administering a substance for sexual purposes, [51] and there is a sexual offence of unlawful detention. [52] There are offences of incest and intercourse with step-child. [53] There is a sexual offence of procuring. [54] There are a number of sexual offences against young children, [55] and against older children. [56] There is a sexual offence of meeting a child, [57] and there are a number of offences of sexual abuse of trust. [58] There are a number of offences relating to the sexual services of children and child pornography, [59] and there are a number of offences relating to indecent photographs of children. [60] There are a number of offences relating to the prostitution or seduction of, and premises used for intercourse by, girls under 16. [61] There are offences of trading in prostitution and brothel-keeping, allowing children to be in brothels, and living on earnings of another from male prostitution. [62] There are a number of offences of soliciting, importuning or loitering for the purpose of prostitution. [63] There is an offence of extreme pornography. [64]
There is statutory provision in relation to procedure and evidence on trials for sexual offences, [65] and pardons and disregards for sodomy offences. [66]
The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim that the sexual activity was consensual, and such sexual activity may be considered child sexual abuse or statutory rape. The person below the minimum age is considered the victim, and their sex partner the offender, although some jurisdictions provide exceptions through "Romeo and Juliet laws" if one or both participants are underage and are close in age.
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence that includes child sexual abuse, groping, rape, drug facilitated sexual assault, and the torture of the person in a sexual manner.
Child sex tourism (CST) is tourism for the purpose of engaging in the prostitution of children, which is commercially facilitated child sexual abuse. The definition of child in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is "every human being below the age of 18 years". Child sex tourism results in both mental and physical consequences for the exploited children, which may include sexually transmitted infections, "drug addiction, pregnancy, malnutrition, social ostracism, and death", according to the State Department of the United States. Child sex tourism, part of the multibillion-dollar global sex tourism industry, is a form of child prostitution within the wider issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children. Child sex tourism victimizes approximately 2 million children around the world. The children who perform as prostitutes in the child sex tourism trade often have been lured or abducted into sexual slavery.
The Protection of Children Act 1978 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that criminalized indecent photographs of children. The act applies in England and Wales. Similar provision for Scotland is contained in the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and for Northern Ireland in the Protection of Children Order 1978.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, or "An Act to make further provision for the Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes," was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the latest in a 25-year series of legislation in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland beginning with the Offences against the Person Act 1861. It raised the age of consent from 13 years of age to 16 years of age and delineated the penalties for sexual offences against women and minors. It also strengthened existing legislation against prostitution and homosexuality. This act was also notable for the circumstances of its passage in Parliament.
The Offences against the Person Act 1861 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It consolidated provisions related to offences against the person from a number of earlier statutes into a single Act. For the most part these provisions were, according to the draftsman of the Act, incorporated with little or no variation in their phraseology. It is one of a group of Acts sometimes referred to as the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts 1861. It was passed with the object of simplifying the law. It is essentially a revised version of an earlier consolidation act, the Offences Against the Person Act 1828, incorporating subsequent statutes.
In criminal law, the term offence against the person or crime against the person usually refers to a crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person.
The ages of consent for sexual activity vary from age 15 to 18 across Australia, New Zealand and other parts of Oceania. The specific activity and the gender of its participants is also addressed by the law. The minimum age is the age at or above which an individual can engage in unfettered sexual relations with another person of minimum age. Close in age exceptions may exist and are noted where applicable. In Vanuatu the homosexual age of consent is set higher at 18, while the heterosexual age of consent is 15. Same sex sexual activity is illegal at any age for males in Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Samoa, Niue, Tonga and Tuvalu; it is outlawed for both men and women in the Solomon Islands. In all other places the age of consent is independent of sexual orientation or gender.
The ages of consent vary by jurisdiction across Europe. The ages of consent – hereby meaning the age from which one is deemed able to consent to having sex with anyone else of consenting age or above – are between 14 and 18. The vast majority of countries set their ages in the range of 14 to 16; only four countries, Cyprus (17), Ireland (17), Turkey (18), and the Vatican City (18), set an age of consent higher than 16.
Rape is a type of sexual assault initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, under threat or manipulation, by impersonation, or with a person who is incapable of giving valid consent.
Restrictions on sexual activity involving minors in the United Kingdom and its predecessors have existed since medieval times. During the 1970s, there was some political advocacy in favour of significantly reducing the age of consent, supported by various 'youth liberation' organizations and mostly by members of an international British activist group. Meanwhile, over a similar time period, the unequal age of consent for straight and gay young people was campaigned against by the LGBT rights movement. More recently arguments have occasionally been made in favour of reducing the age of consent, generally to an earlier point in adolescence.
Laws against child sexual abuse vary by country based on the local definition of who a child is and what constitutes child sexual abuse. Most countries in the world employ some form of age of consent, with sexual contact with an underage person being criminally penalized. As the age of consent to sexual behaviour varies from country to country, so too do definitions of child sexual abuse. An adult's sexual intercourse with a minor below the legal age of consent may sometimes be referred to as statutory rape, based on the principle that any apparent consent by a minor could not be considered legal consent.
The Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed to consolidate certain enactments creating offences and relating to the criminal law of Scotland.
In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent. Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sexual contact with minors under the age of consent, it is a generic term, and very few jurisdictions use the actual term statutory rape in the language of statutes. In statutory rape, overt force or threat is usually not present. Statutory rape laws presume coercion because a minor or mentally disabled adult is legally incapable of giving consent to the act.
Child pornography laws in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are covered by the Protection of Children Act 1978, which made it illegal to take, make, distribute, show, or possess for the intent of showing or distributing an indecent photograph of someone under the age of 18. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison. In the context of digital media, saving an indecent image to a computer's hard drive is considered to be "making" the image, as it causes a copy to exist which did not exist before. Indecency is to be interpreted by a jury, who should apply the recognised standards of propriety.
The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament. It creates a code of sexual offences that is said to be intended to reform that area of the law. The corresponding legislation in England and Wales is the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and in Northern Ireland the Sexual Offences Order 2008.
There are a number of sexual offences under the law of England and Wales.
There are a number of sexual offences under the law of Scotland.
There are a number of sexual offences under the law of Northern Ireland.
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