An Investigation into the Potential for Legislative Change of Section 15 and Section 15(A)

Project: Research-related funding

Project Details

Description

Kloess, Hamilton-Giachritsis, & Wade, 2018; funded by University of Birmingham Pump Prime Funding. Section 15A under the Sexual Offences Act is used to sentence online offenders, However, the maximum term allowed is 2 years, which suggests that online abuse is seen as a low severity crime. The aim of this research work is to develop previous work by Hamilton-Giachritsis and Kloess that challenges misconceptions about online abuse of young people (including that all online grooming progresses to offline meetings, and that online abuse is less serious/concerning than offline). The ultimate aim is to establish whether a case law review is needed.
Short title£1891
AcronymSection 15A
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/10/1830/09/19

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