Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009
United Kingdom legislation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United Kingdom legislation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 (asp 9) 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 (Northern Ireland) Order 2008.
| Act of the Scottish Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make new provision about sexual offences, and for connected purposes. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 2009 asp 9 |
| Territorial extent | Scotland |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 14 July 2009 |
| Other legislation | |
| Relates to | Sexual Offences Act 2003 |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
In 2004, the Scottish Law Commission began working on a reference from the Scottish Executive to "examine the law relating to rape and other sexual offences, and the evidential requirements for proving such offences, and to make recommendations for reform" and completed its report in December 2007.[1] The Scottish Government gave a commitment to bring forward legislation in the light of the Commission's review.[2] Before the enactment of this Act, Scotland had very few statutory sexual offences, with most of its sexual legislation being defined at common law, which was increasingly seen as a problem.[3]
On 17 June 2008, the Scottish Government introduced the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament.[4] The Bill was passed by the Parliament on 10 June 2009.[5] The Act came into force on 1 December 2010 (except for sections 52 and 53(2)).[6]
The Act provides for a definition of consent; it states that "“consent” means free agreement (and related expressions are to be construed accordingly)".[7] Under the Act, a number of circumstances where the victim is unable to give consent (such as incapacitation due to alcohol consumption) are illegal.[8] A spokesperson for the Scottish Government has said that the Act provides "a clear legal framework that reflects the values of modern society."[9]
This section creates the offence of rape. This is the first statutory definition of rape in Scots law; prior to this Act, the offence was defined at common law. Male rape (male on male assault) is also included in the offence of rape; before this new definition, rape was defined as non-consensual vaginal intercourse imposed by a male against a female.
Rape is defined as follows:[10]
Rape
- (1) If a person (“A”), with A's penis—
- (a) without another person (“B”) consenting, and
- (b) without any reasonable belief that B consents,
penetrates to any extent, 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.
The Act creates several other offences in the law of Scotland.
Consent is defined in the Act as 'free agreement'. In determining whether an accused had 'reasonable belief' that consent existed, "regard is to be had to whether the person took any steps to ascertain whether there was consent or, as the case may be, knowledge; and if so, to what those steps were". The following examples are given in s.13-15 of the Act of where consent would not be established. The person carrying out the offence would be 'Person A' and the victim, 'Person B'.
Sections 18-47 of the Act are on the subject of sexual offences relating to children, and to people under a duty of care such as mentally disordered persons. The age of consent in Scots law is 16, with the law defining offenses against "young children" (under 13), including "Rape of a young child" (section 18,[11] the equivalent of statutory rape) as well as offences against "older children" (aged at least 13 but less than 16) including "Having intercourse with an older child" (section 28).[12]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
