Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2018 to Question 155217, if he will place details of the consultation with victims referred to in the Library.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The offence at Section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 2015 was introduced after engagement with interested persons, including victims and key stakeholders. This was swiftly conducted and a formal document was not produced or published. Feedback was used to inform the policy making process.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason the Government classified up-skirting as a sex offence.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government’s Bill inserts new provisions into the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This enables the most serious offenders who commit the crime for sexual motives to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register.
Asked by: Maria Miller (Conservative - Basingstoke)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of reclassifying the offence of posting explicit or sexual images online without permission as a sex offence; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The offence at Section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 2015 criminalises the disclosure of private sexual photographs or films without the consent of an individual who appears in them and with the intent to cause that individual distress.
Such behaviour is a terrible abuse of trust which can leave victims feeling humiliated and degraded.
I am glad to see people are being prosecuted under this new offence which carries a maximum sentence of two years behind bars.
At the time the offence was brought in it was deliberately designed to strengthen existing law by targeting the malicious non-consensual sharing of private sexual images, a motive more akin to the offence of blackmail. This decision was taken after consultation with victims who strongly supported the focus on the malicious nature of this behaviour.