The Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005 (asp 9) is an

Act of the Scottish Parliament An Act of the Scottish Parliament ( gd, Achd Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) is primary legislation made by the Scottish Parliament. The power to create Acts was conferred to the Parliament by section 28 of the Scotland Act 1998 following the successfu ...

. The Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

was announced to the parliament by the

First Minister of Scotland The first minister of Scotland ( sco, heid meinister o Scotland; gd, prìomh mhinistear na h-Alba ) is the head of the Scottish Government and keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. The first minister chairs ...

Jack McConnell Jack Wilson McConnell, Baron McConnell of Glenscorrodale, (born 30 June 1960) is a Scottish politician who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2001 to 2007. McConnell served as the Minister ...

, in September 2004. It was passed on 2 June 2005, receiving

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

on 12 July. The act introduced new offences related to

child grooming Child grooming is befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a minor under the age of consent, and sometimes the child's family, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse. Child grooming is also regularly ...

, which had been addressed in England and Wales under the

Sexual Offences Act 2003 The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It partly replaced the Sexual Offences Act 1956 with more specific and explicit wording. It also created several new offences such as non-consensual voyeuris ...

Background and legislation

Following the

which introduced new legislation into England and Wales, there were calls by politicians and the police for similar laws to come into force in Scotland. There were concerns that the existing legislation made it difficult to prosecute people for child grooming before any sexual abuse had taken place. Some people suspected of grooming children over the internet for sex abuse had been charged with

breach of the peace Breach of the peace, or disturbing the peace, is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries and in a public order sense in the several jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It is a form of disorderly conduct. Public ord ...

or lewd and libidinous practises. The Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences Act is one of several pieces of legislation introduced worldwide in the 2000s to introduce offences specifically related to child grooming. Other countries adopting similar laws included Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. The first part of the act makes it an offence to "meet a child following certain preliminary contact". It is an offense if a person ("A") has met or communicated with the child ("B") previously, "intends to engage in unlawful sexual activity involving B or in the presence of B", the child is under 16 years of age, and person A "does not reasonably believe that B is 16 or over". The act allows the police to apply for a risk of sexual harm order (RSHO) for a person who has committed certain acts (at least two) related to child sex abuse, and is believed to be at risk to a particular child or children in general. The relevant acts referred to are "engaging in sexual activity involving a child or in the presence of a child", "causing or inciting a child to watch a person engaging in sexual activity or to look at a moving or still image that is sexual", "giving a child anything that relates to sexual activity or contains a reference to such activity" and "communicating with a child, where any part of the communication is sexual".

Impact

In 2009,

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

MSP

Robin Harper Robin Charles Moreton Harper, (born 4 August 1940) is a Scottish politician, who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothians (Scottish Parliament electoral region), Lothians region (1999–2011). He was co-convener of the Scot ...

raised concerns that only four people had been prosecuted under the act. He said that the act "clearly isn't working". The

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

responded that the act only covers particular offences and that in that year, under various legislation, 234 people in Scotland had been convicted of child sex offences. A related act, the

Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 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 Sexu ...

was passed by the parliament in 2009.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * {{Refend Acts of the Scottish Parliament 2005 Scottish criminal law Child welfare in Scotland

Background and legislation

Impact

See also

References