Legislative changes
Several important reforms recommended in the Gillen Review, were introduced as a result of the further implementation of The Justice (Sexual Offences And Trafficking Victims) NI Act 2022 including:
- The exclusion of the public from court in serious sexual offence trials and appeal hearings;
- The extension of existing lifelong anonymity for victims until 25 years after death; and
- Increased penalties for breach on anonymity.
A number of new offences legislated for in the 2022 Act were also commenced. These address a range of particular behaviours which have become increasingly prevalent within society and provide additional protections. They include:
- Four offences which capture the specific and highly intrusive behaviours of what are commonly known as ‘up-skirting’ and ‘down-blousing’. They relate to the observing or recording of a person’s genitals, buttocks, breasts or underwear without that person’s consent;
- the offence of “sending an unwanted sexual image” to capture the behaviour of those who intentionally send an image of their genitals or sexual activity to another person without that person’s consent, commonly known as “cyber-flashing”;
- four new offences designed to tackle the particular behaviour of an adult pretending to be a child and making a communication with a child under 16 with a view to sexual grooming. These act as a precursor to more serious grooming behaviours and build on existing child grooming protections;
- the offence of non-fatal strangulation or asphyxiation
- extending the scope of the established abuse of position of trust offences to capture those adults in a position of trust who knowingly coach, teach, train, supervise or instruct a child on a regular basis in the area of sport or religion.