Until now, Scots law has had no specific offence targeting
grooming – the practice of paedophiles contacting and gaining the
trust of their victims.
Instead, Scottish enforcement agencies have been forced to rely
on a mixture of statutory and common law offences, such as fraud,
lewd and libidinous practices or breach of the peace, when trying
to charge an adult for grooming.
This differs from the position in England and Wales, where a
grooming offence was created by the Sexual Offences Act of
2003.
The new Scottish Act, the Protection of Children and Prevention
of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act, provides that an offence in
relation to grooming will be committed by a person where:
- A person travels to meet, or actually meets, with a child who
is 16 or younger, or arranges for the child to travel to the
meeting;
- The person intends to carry out unlawful sexual activity
against the child – evidence for this might be from materials
brought by the person such as condoms or the nature of previous
communications on the part of the adult;
- The person has communicated with the child on at least one
previous occasion beforehand; and
- The person does not reasonably believe that the child is 16 or
older.
Those found guilty of the offence face a maximum jail sentence
of 10 years, the same maximum that exists in England and Wales.
"This new legislation – part of a series of measures we are
taking to tighten controls around sex offenders, will help us
further improve the protection of our children from those who seek
to harm them," said Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson.
"It will allow chief constables to apply to the sheriff court
for a Risk of Sexual Harm Order (RSHO) to restrict the activities
of individuals who are believed to pose a risk of sexual harm to
children even if they have not been convicted," she
added.
The new Act also extends existing laws relating to those who
seek to make and distribute child porn and introduces new offences
to deal with those who purchase sexual services from under 18s and
for those who encourage, control and arrange such services.
In addition it will enable a sentencing judge to impose a Sexual
Offences Prevention Order to restrict the movements of sex
offenders upon conviction, without the need as at
present for further evidence of threatening behaviour post
conviction and a chief constable's application.
