Historic consensual gay sex convictions
Thousands of men will soon to be able to apply to have their historical convictions for consensual gay sex with a person over 16 deleted.
Under the new Protection of Freedoms Bill, convictions under the 1956 Sexual Offences Act will be erased from police and other official records by application from those who have been affected by committing a former criminal offence.
Proposals for new legislation will delete the convictions of having gay sex with a person over 16, when the act was deemed illegal.
The new legislation will delete these convictions, meaning gay men will be free to apply for charity roles and jobs with children and in hospitals without having to disclose the conviction during Criminal Records Bureau checks.
This means that men will no longer be deemed a criminal for having had sex with their male partners.
How the law has changed:
- 1967 Consensual sex in private between two men over the age of 21 was decriminalised.
- 1994 the age of consent was lowered to the age of 18 years
- 2000 the age of consent was lowered again to 16 yrs.
- 2012 Certain convictions under the 1956 Sexual Offences Act will be erased from police and other official records by application from those who have been affected by committing a former criminal offence.
How Will this Work?
These proposals will apply only to those offences of consensual gay sex which were previously dealt with under Sections 12 & 13 of The Sexual Offences Act 1956.
There are many thousands of records on the Police National Computer (PNC) that have a Section 12 or Section 13 element and as a result it is thought that anyone wishing to have these records removed permanently will have to apply to have their records deleted.
The Lesbian & Gay Foundation welcome this part of the new Protection of Freedoms Bill. We would like to encourage all those who have been affected by historic convictions to apply to have them removed. This is particularly so if you have been unable to apply for jobs and voluntary roles because of the fear that these historic and unjust convictions would be revealed through criminal record checks.
For many people, these convictions have had an incredibly negative effect on their lives long after the offences they were convicted for were removed from the statute books.
The Protection of Freedoms Bill is being introduced with the aim of gaining Royal Assent by late 2011 or early 2012.
Search ‘Protection of Freedoms Bill’ at:
www.homeoffice.gov.uk
August 2011