Voyeurism (Offences) (No. 2) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-09-05
Topic: Law and Crime
Lindsay Harvey Hoyle (Labour, Centre-left): With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Amendment 1, in clause 1, page 1, line 9, leave out "for a purpose mentioned in subsection (3))" Amendment 2, page 2, line 1, leave out paragraph (c) Amendment 3, page 2, line 6, leave out subsection (3) As drafted the Bill potentially does not outlaw "upskirting" in certain cases such as for purely financial motives; or where the motivation is "group bonding" where the identity of the victim is irrelevant. This amendment makes all "upskirting" an offence. Amendment 5, page 2, line 8, at end insert— "(3A) It is an offence for a person (A) to disclose an image of another person (B) recorded during the commission of an offence under subsection (2) if the disclosure is made without B’s consent (3B) It is a defence for a person (A) charged with an offence under subsection (3A) to prove— (a) that disclosure of the image was necessary for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime, or (b) that A did not disclose the image with the intent of disclosing an image of another person’s genitals, buttocks or underwear." As the Bill is currently drafted it would be an offence to take an upskirting picture but not necessarily an offence for it to be distributed (existing "intimate image" legislation does not outlaw the distribution in all cases). This amendment makes it an offence to distribute non-consensual "upskirting" images. Amendment 7, page 2, line 13, at end insert— "(4A) Where a court is considering for the purposes of sentencing the seriousness of an offence under this section, and either or both of the facts in subsection (4B) are true, the court— (a) must treat any fact mentioned in subsection (4B) as an aggravating factor (that is to say, a factor that increases the seriousness of an offence), and (b) must state in open court that the offence is so aggravated (4B) The facts referred to in subsection (4A) are that— (a) at the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or after doing so, the offender demonstrated towards the victim of the offence hostility based on the victim having (or being presumed to have) a particular sex characteristic, or (b) the offence was motivated (wholly or partly) by hostility towards persons of who share a particular sex characteristic, based on them sharing that characteristic (4C) For the purposes of subsection (4B), "sex characteristic" means the protected characteristic of sex in section 11 of the Equality Act 2010 (4D) The Secretary of State shall, within twelve months of Royal Assent being given to this Act, request that the Law Commission review the provisions of subsections (4A) to (4C)." This amendment ensures that if the crime is motivated by misogyny then that will be considered by a court as an aggravating factor when considering the seriousness of the crime for the purposes of sentencing. Amendment 4, page 2, line 27, leave out "mentioned in section 67A(3)(a) (sexual gratification)" and insert "of obtaining sexual gratification" Amendment 6, page 2, line 29, leave out from "the" to end of line 40 and insert "offender was aged 18 years or older at the time of the offence" This amendment makes the offence notifiable in all cases when the offence is committed by a person aged 18 or over and for sexual gratification.