Consultation Documents
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Review of Part One of the Sex Offenders Act 1997
In June 2000, Charles Clarke, then Minister of State
at the Home Office, announced a review of the Sex Offenders
Act 1997 to identify any areas of weakness in the legislation
and to maximise its effectiveness. A range of organisations,
including government departments, relevant professional
organisations and children's charities were actively
involved in the review process.
Just a few weeks later, following the tragic death of
Sarah Payne, widespread public concern was expressed
about the dangers posed by sex offenders. In response,
the Government introduced, in autumn 2000, a number
of amendments to the then Criminal Justice and Courts
Services Bill to strengthen the Sex Offenders Act. These
anticipated some of the work of the Review.
The Review team completed its work and published its
recommendations for public consultation in July 2001.
Over fifty organisations responded and many of their
responses simply supported the proposals in the Review.
You can access the
review documents (pdf file size 222 Kb) and a
response document (pdf file size 167 Kb) containing the Government's response
to each of the recommendations made by the Review and
a summary of the responses received from the public
during the initial consultation process.
Following a further consultation
(pdf file size 33 Kb) between 5th and 21st March 2003,
the Government announced
on 15th April that the period registered sex offenders
plan to travel abroad before they must notify
the police of their intentions will be reduced from
eight days to three days. The Government has also proposed
that an offender should be required to notify the police
at least 7 days in advance of travel, with a fallback
option of notifying 24 hours before travel where offenders
travel plans change or where they are required to travel
at short notice. The changes will apply to all 'registered'
sex offenders.
'Setting
the Boundaries' ; Reforming the law on sex offences
The proposals on sex offences have
been developed from the Sex Offences Review set up in
January 1999. This was established by the Home Secretary
and led by civil servants but was conducted
independently of ministers. The Review was set up with
the following terms of reference:
- to provide coherent and clear
offences which protect individuals, especially
children and the more vulnerable from abuse and
exploitation;
- to enable abusers to be properly
punished; and
- to be fair and non-discriminatory
The Review consultation document "Setting
the Boundaries" (pdf file size 723 Kb), which was published in July
2000, made a wide range of recommendations that have
been considered carefully in light of over 700 responses
received during a public consultation period.
You can access the review document and a
response document (pdf file size 354 Kb) containing the Government's response
to each of the recommendations made by the Review and
a summary of the responses received from the public
during the consultation process.
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