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Sex Laws Info
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The Sex Offenders Register contains the details of anyone cautioned, convicted or released from prison for sexual offences against young persons and adults. It was set up in 1997, and is not retrospective; it does not include anyone convicted before 1997 (though such details will doubtless be held elsewhere in the police records). There are about 30,000 persons on it. There were some amendments made to its operation in the Seaxual Offences Act of 2003, by which all convicted sex offenders are required, under penalty, to register with the police within 3 days of their conviction or their release from prison. Persons whose names appear on the Register must notify the police of any change of name or address, and must also inform them of any intention of travelling outside the UK.
Details remain on the Register for periods of time on a sliding scale according to the perceived seriousness of the offence: - Cautions - these remain active for 2 years (1 year if the offender is under 18)
- For those given sentences of six months or less - 7 years on the Register.
- For those given sentences of six to thirty months - 10 years on the Register.
- For those given sentences of over thirty months - on the Register indefinitely.
Two convicted sex offenders appealed to the High Court in 2008, where three judges ruled that their "indefinite" registration as sex offenders with no right of review was "incompatible" with their human rights and rights to privacy. This decision, won by a teenager referred to as JF, and Mr Angus Thompson from Newcastle upon Tyne, was upheld by three judges at the court of appeal in 2009.
JF was convicted of two offences of rape of a child under 13 and other sexual offences. He was 11 at the time of the assaults. In October 2005 he was sentenced to 30 months' detention by Liverpool crown court and released on licence in January 2007. Mr Thompson was sentenced in November 1996 to five years' imprisonment on two counts of indecent assault on a female and other offences of actual bodily harm. He was released in April 2000.
Currently anyone sentenced to at least 30 months in prison for a sexual offence is placed on the register for life. They have to notify the police of their personal details, any change of address, and when they travel abroad.
As a result of these landmark judicial rulings, in a statement (made with some reluctance) on February 16th 2011, Home Secretary Theresa May announced that convicted sex offenders would in future be able to apply for consideration of removal from the Register after waiting 15 years following release from custody, and that there would be no automatic appeals. The final decision of whether an offender should remain on the register would be down to the police and the nature of the original offence, not the courts, as in Scotland.
The government also intends to close four "loopholes" in the current law.
First, it will become compulsory for sex offenders to report to the authorities before travelling abroad for even one day - the limit is currently three days.
Secondly, sex offenders will have to notify the authorities whenever they are living in a household with a child under the age of 18 and they will be required to notify the authorities weekly as to where they can be found when they have no fixed abode.
Lastly, rules will be "tightened" so that sex offenders can no longer avoid being on the register when they change their name by deed poll.
NOTE: The Scottish government has already implemented a scheme to give adults offenders an automatic right of appeal for removal from the register after 15 years - those placed on the register when under 18 years old can appeal after eight years.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 February 2011 23:03 |
Sex Laws Info 