The UK's Statutory Defence for Victims of Modern Slavery and its Narrow Understanding of Victimhood
| Published date | 01 August 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00220183231179181 |
| Author | Alicia Heys |
| Date | 01 August 2023 |
The UK’s Statutory Defence for
Victims of Modern Slavery and its
Narrow Understanding of
Victimhood
Alicia Heys
Wilberforce Institute, University of Hull, UK
Abstract
The Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings stipulates
a‘non-punishment principle’which provides for thepossibility of not imposing penalties on
victims for crimes they were compelled to commit. This paper investigates the UK’siteration
of this principle: the statutorydefence provided by section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act.
Drawing on extant literature and relevant case law, this paper investigates current under-
standings of the statutory defenceand the insights these provide into broader understandings
of criminal exploitation. It demonstrates that while practitioners understand the processes of
the legislation surrounding the defence, they are less knowledgeable about the nuances of
modern slavery which therefore impacts the use and effectiveness of the defence. This
paper challenges the basis upon which criminal law is applied, and its analysis makes an ori-
ginal contribution to recognising how misunderstandings of criminal exploitation can affect
fairness in the criminal justice system.
Keywords
Modern slavery, human trafficking, criminal exploitation, liability, non-punishment
Introduction
The Modern Slavery Act (MSA) was introduced into UK legislation in March 2015 with the broad
purpose of consolidating existing offences, improving support for victims, and ensuring that perpetrators
receive suitable punishment.
1
Within the MSA, section 45 offers a statutory defence (referred to as the ‘statutory defence’for the
remainder of this article) for those who are faced with criminal liability for a criminal act that they
Corresponding author:
Alicia Heys, Wilberforce Institute, University of Hull, 27 High St, Hull HU1 1NE, UK.
Email: A.s.heys@hull.ac.uk
1. Home Office (2014) Modern Slavery Act 2015. https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/modern-slavery-bill accessed 22
April 2022.
Article
The Journal of Criminal Law
2023, Vol. 87(4) 237–251
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00220183231179181
journals.sagepub.com/home/clj
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