Public Sexual Harassment Offence Consultation

In late July the Government launched a consultation on the creation of a criminal offence of public sexual harassment, if such an offence were to be created, what it should look like, and whether the government should take additional non-legislative actions to tackle public sexual harassment (either instead of or in addition to a new criminal offence).

This consultation follows widely reported issues over the past 18 months, which includes reports of ‘Spikings’ in the night-time economy, which have highlighted violence against women and girls and have brought the issue to the very forefront of public attention.

The consultation is a targeted rather than a public one,  which means that responses are sought from a select group of Respondents targeted by the Government.  The Consultation has been sent to recipients in:

• charities and organisations focused on crimes which disproportionately affect women and girls (including organisations focused on male victims of those crimes)
• victim-focused charities
• children’s and schools sectors
• organisations related to the world of work
• policing
• the legal sector
• local government
• night-time economy organisations
• transport organisations
• specialist academia

This initial consultation closes at 11:59 pm on 1^st September 2022.