Sexual Offences Act 1956
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The Sexual Offences Act 1956 (4 & 5 Eliz. 2. c. 69) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that consolidated the English criminal law relating to sexual offences between 1957 and 2004. It was mostly repealed (from 1 May 2004) by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which replaced it, but sections 33 to 37 still survive. The 2003 Act also added a new section 33A. These sections create offences to deal with brothels.
Although the rest of the Act has been repealed, the repealed sections still apply to sex crimes committed before the repeal, such as in the Pitcairn sexual assault trial of 2004.
The act today
Sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 create summary offences. Section 33A creates an aggravated version of the offence in section 33, and is an indictable offence. Section 37 prescribes the penalties.
Sections 33 and 33A
Section 33 reads: Template:Quote
Section 33A reads: Template:Quote
The difference between these offences arises because the definition of a brothel in English law does not require that the premises are used for the purposes of prostitution, since a brothel exists wherever more than one person offers sexual contact, whether for payment or not.[1]
"Prostitution" is defined by section 51(2) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as follows: Template:Quote
"Payment" is defined by section 51(3): Template:Quote
Section 34
Section 35(1)
Section 36
Penalties
Section 37 gives effect to Schedule 2 to the act, which sets out the penalties for the above offences. For sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 the penalty is imprisonment for three months for a first offence, or six months "for an offence committed after a previous conviction" for any of those offences.
The maximum sentence for the offence under section 33A is six months in a magistrates' court, or seven years in the Crown Court.
Succeeding Sexual Offences Acts
- The Street Offences Act 1959 prohibited soliciting "in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitution."[2]
- The Sexual Offences Act 1985 prohibited kerb crawling and persistently soliciting women for the purposes of prostitution.[3]
- The Sexual Offences Act 2003 inserted section 33A into the 1956 Act, and created further offences relating to prostitution:
- Sections 47 to 50 prohibit child prostitution.
- Sections 52 and 53 prohibit pimping for financial gain.
- Sections 57 to 59 create offences relating to sex trafficking.
The Act as originally enacted
Comparative table
See also
References
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External links
- Sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 of the Act, as in force today, from the UK Statute Law Database.
- Section 33A (as inserted by section 55 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003).
- Text of the whole Act, prior to 1 May 2004.
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