Sex Laws Info

Sex Laws In Scotland

Introduction

The Scottish legal system is in part separate from that of England and Wales. It has its own court system and legal profession.  In 1997 the  Labour Government carried through proposals for devolution, and the Scottish Parliament was set up following a referendum in the Scotland Act 1998. Elections were held in 1999. The Scottish Parliament can legislate in areas of domestic policy, but its powers exclude foreign affairs, defence and national security, economic and monetary policy, employment and social security.

The court system is separate and different from England and Wales, and uses different terminology. The principal law officer is the Lord Advocate. The Court of Session is the supreme civil court, subject to appeal to the House of Lords, with most civil jurisdiction being dealt with in the Sheriff courts. The supreme criminal court is the High Court of Justiciary, the lower courts are the Sheriff courts and District courts. The office of the Procurator Fiscal equates to the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales.

The Scottish Courts website is at LINK

Prostitution and the Law

For the most part, the laws relating to prostitution in Scotland are in line with those of the rest of the United Kingdom. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force simultaneously in England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on 1 May 2004. The Scottish provisions were commenced by order of the Scottish Ministers on 1st May 2004.

The link to the SOA 2003: LINK

An explanatory briefing on items specifically relating to Scotland from the Scottish Department of Law, Order and Public Safety  to regional police chiefs can be viewed here:  LINK

The document explains how some of the earlier legislation in Scotland is updated by the implementation of the SOA 2003.

Street Prostitution

Street prostitution is dealt with under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, section 46(1), which states that:

A prostitute (whether male or female) who for the purposes of prostitution either

1. loiters in a public place
2. solicits in a public place or in any other place so as to be seen from a public place or
3. importunes any person in a public place

shall be guilty of an offence

Kerb-Crawling

The Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007, passed by parliament in February, criminalised men for soliciting a prostitute for sex and loitering for the same purpose. It’s a brief document. Full text here:  LINK

A significant passage is this:

(1) A person (“A”) who, for the purpose of obtaining the services of a person engaged in prostitution, solicits in a relevant place commits an offence.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) it is immaterial whether or not—

(a) A is in or on public transport,
(b) A is in a motor vehicle which is not public transport,
(c) a person solicited by A for the purpose mentioned in that subsection is a person engaged in prostitution.

(6) In this section— ...
“relevant place” means—

a public place within the meaning of section 133 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (c. 45), (b) a place to which at the material time the public are permitted to have access (whether on payment or otherwise), [This is open to wide interpretation, and could be taken to include any public place  – not just the “streets”.]

It is significant that this Act meant the end of the “tolerance zone” in Aberdeen, which had existed since 2001 with police and local authority approval and which was widely regarded as a progressive and forward-looking experiment to regulate street prostitution.

In December 2008, police in the Leith area asked for help from the public regarding kerb-crawling. LINK


Sauna and massage establishments

It’s often claimed that “Edinburgh has licensed brothels”. This is not the case. Brothels are dealt with under the SOA 2003, and the managing/owning/running of them remains a criminal offence with a maximum sentence on conviction of up to seven years imprisonment. However, Edinburgh was the first city in the UK to grant saunas and massage parlours public entertainment licences in 1986, in accordance with the provisions of the Civic Government Act (Scotland) of 1982. There were originally more than 20 premises which fell into this category. The licensing regime - in which the council appeared to turn a blind eye to sex for sale in these saunas/parlours - was apparently originally intended to tackle the problem of street prostitution in the city, to give prostitutes relatively safe places to work, and to  help to reduce the spread of HIV/Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases. As of December 2008, the number of licensed premises was 13. If the establishments concerned breach the terms of their licences, their licences can be (and have been)  revoked. There is, however, considerable anecdotal evidence gathered over a long period of time which does indeed suggest an attitude of tolerance on the part of the local authorities towards these premises. Unlicensed saunas/parlours run the risk of closure, and brothels are dealt with as brothels.

Current Developments

The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill was introduced in the Parliament on 17 June 2008 and (as at early June 2009)  is still in its Committee stages. Prostitution lies outside its remit. The Bill seeks to place existing common law and statutory sexual offences into a single Act and, in doing so, makes a number of significant changes to existing law (e.g. in relation to the definition of rape).  The Bill repeals the common law offences of rape, sodomy and clandestine injury to women and a number of statutory sexual offences in addition to creating new statutory offences relating to sexual conduct, in particular where that takes place without consent.

For further information on the Bill and its progress, see here: LINK

• < Prev
• Next >