Sexual harassment in the street could lead to 2 year jail sentence

Under a new offence being considered by the Government, men who sexually harass women on public transport or in the street will face two years in prison

 

The Home Office has launched a consultation on the possibility of an amendment to the 1986 Public Order Act creating a new offence of "public sexual harassment." It follows findings by the Office for National Statistics that half of women aged 16 to 34 had been harassed in the previous 12 months, a quarter said they had been followed, and 38 per cent had experienced catcalls, whistles, unwanted sexual comments and jokes.

 

The consultation steers a middle route between those who want "a wholly new offence" and those who say public sexual harassment is already covered by existing criminal offences. It sets out two options, both with a maximum of two years in jail.

 

It proposes adding to an already existing offence, so that if someone harassed another person in public "on the basis of the complainant's sex" they would face a longer sentence than if it was committed "without that motivation."

 

The offence of "intentional harassment, alarm or distress on account of sex" would be added to section 4A of the Public Order Act of 1986 under both options. It is modelled on hate crime legislation where anyone motivated by hostility based on race or religion faces a longer sentence but contains several key differences. The consultation said that, unlike hate crime laws, it would not be necessary for the defendant to be motivated by hostility based on the victim's sex. The document said: "Public sexual harassment will sometimes be based on such hostility, but not always, and this is one of the reasons why the Law Commission concluded that sex should not be added to hate crime legislation, and why the Government agrees with that conclusion."

 

Prosecutors would need to show that the perpetrator intended to cause harassment, distress, or alarm, and that this had been felt by the victim. It would be an offence if committed in any open space, in a public building or workplace, on public transport, or by someone shouting from an open window to a person on the street. Such harassment in a private dwelling would be excluded.

 

The second option is different only in detailing the types of threatening, abusive, insulting or disorderly behaviour. The list comprises making an obscene or aggressive comment towards someone, following someone, making an obscene or offensive gesture towards them, obstructing a person who is making a journey, or driving or riding slowly near to a person making a journey.

 

Advocates for a new offence include the frontrunner in the Tory leadership race, Liz Truss, and the Home Office adviser on tackling violence against women, Ms Nimco Ali.

 

 

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