Preventing the Criminalisation of Children Who Have Been Victims of Group-Based Sexual Exploitation Involving Grooming Tactics—Understanding Child Sexual Exploitation as Enslavement

DOI10.1177/0022018319879013
AuthorRaymond Arthur,Lisa Down
Published date01 October 2019
Date01 October 2019
Subject MatterArticles
Article
Preventing the Criminalisation
of Children Who Have Been
Victims of Group-Based Sexual
Exploitation Involving Grooming
Tactics—Understanding Child
Sexual Exploitation as Enslavement
Raymond Arthur
Northumbria University, UK
Lisa Down
Northumbria University, UK
Abstract
Recently the United Kingdom has been beset by a moral panic concerning gangs grooming girls
for sexual exploitation. This moral panic derived from a number of well-publicised cases, the
most infamous of which took place in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Grooming children has
been criminalised by section 15 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Adult groomers face up to
two years in prison and being automatically placed on the sex offenders register. The Act is
intended to protect children from abuse and exploitation. However child victims who have
been abused by gangs and coerced into offending may still be liable for prosecution for any
offending they have engaged in. Fear of being prosecuted may stop victims coming forward and
prevent survivors from moving on with their lives. Such children are often perceived as having
made a choice and criminalised. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 was designed to combat modern
slavery. Recognising child sexual exploitation as a form of slavery, could lead to victims being
protected rather than criminalised themselves for these offences. This article will examine how
the law can be reformulated to ensure protection of children from sexual exploitation and also
ensuring children are not charged for committing crimes whilst being groomed or coerced.
The article will consider the limitation of the statutory defence available under section 45 of the
Keywords
Exploitation, enslavement, criminalisation
Corresponding author:
Raymond Arthur, School of Law, Northumbria University, Newcastle, NE1 8ST, UK.
E-mail: raymond.arthur@northumbria.ac.uk
The Journal of Criminal Law
2019, Vol. 83(5) 370–380
ªThe Author(s) 2019
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0022018319879013
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