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Current Sexual Offences Law

Sex between men was legalised in Scotland in 1980, and the age of consent for straight and gay sex was brought into line in 2003.

However, even after these discriminatory laws were amended, the law on sexual offences in Scotland was still a mess. In 2008, the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill was introduced into the Scottish Parliament, with the aim of making sexual offences law equal, up-to-date, and non-discriminatory. The Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill received Royal Assent on 14th July 2009 and will become law later this year. This means that the law in Scotland has been ‘tidied up’ and sexual offences law is now far more equal than it has been in the past. Now, under the new law:

  • There is a statutory definition of ‘consent’ to sexual activity
  • There is a statutory offence of rape (as opposed to the previous common law offence), and this is also applicable to males and trans women
  • There is now a statutory offence of rape with an object (previously, this would be classed as indecent assault, a less severe crime)
  • The discriminatory phrases ‘sodomy’ and ‘gross indecency’ have been removed from the text of the law, and a new set of fully gender and sexual orientation neutral offences has been established

The Act has also introduced and cleared up a number of other elements of sexual offences law, which will hopefully lead to increased conviction rates for rape and other sexual offences in Scotland – the latest figures show that only 3.7% of rape cases in Scotland lead to a conviction.

More information about the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill can be found here.

 

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