UK cracks down on ‘rough sex’ or ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ gone wrong defence. Here’s what it means
The United Kingdom has announced a new crackdown on “cowards” who kill their partners through “rough sex”.On Valentine’s Day, (Wednesday, Feb 14th) the UK government announced that a new statutory aggravating factor will be brought in” for this.
As per a statement on the UK Government website, “abusive, degrading or dangerous sexual behaviour” that causes death constitutes ‘rough sex’.
“Cowards who kill their partners with sexual violence will face longer behind bars as the government continues to clamp down on domestic abuse against women,” said the statement.
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Under the new legislation, offenders will be handed down tougher sentences than ever.
As per The Guardian, this follows the UK government’s abolition of rough sex as a defence under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. This was done after lawyers in a series of high-profile cases took help of the act to secure lesser sentences for their clients.
Building on the act, the measure seeks to clarify that in law, there is no such thing as the “rough sex defence”.
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Alex Chalk, the UK Justice Secretary in a statement, said, “We must also hold offenders to account. This new aggravating factor sends a clear message that killers who threaten the safety of women can expect to feel the full force of the law.”
The move comes on the heels of the latest Rape Review progress report.
“Rough sex” defence
As per a 2020 report by the advocacy group, ‘We Can’t Consent To This’, in the UK, at least 60 women and seven men have been killed in episodes of so-called “Rough sex” since 1972. Furthermore, there have been 115 reported non-fatal assaults where rough sex is claimed by the accused — 114 of the victims were women.
Of the 60 homicides, a whopping 45 per cent of offenders, using the “rough sex” defence, got away with “prosecution for manslaughter, a lesser sentence, or the death not prosecuted as a crime at all.”
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As per the group, in all the cases “All of those accused of this violence, who make the claim it was ‘rough sex’, are male.”
Reacting to the upcoming legislation Fiona Mackenzie, Founder of We Can’t Consent to This campaign said: “This is an important step in ensuring that men who kill women in sexually motivated violence do not get away with a lighter sentence. ”
“This change should ensure that any future perpetrators of violence of this sort are properly punished, and send a clear message that this violence against women is unacceptable in our society,” she added.