Upskirting - The New Criminal Offence
Rhys Rosser • July 20, 2021
Rhys discusses the relatively new introduction of the offence under the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019.
The criminal offence of ‘upskirting’ was created under the Voyeurism Act when it received Royal Assent in February. The Act was introduced on 12th April 2019 and so has effect from that date. If an individual is convicted of such an offence, they can receive a custodial sentence of up to 2 years and will be placed on the sex offenders register. The offence is brought pursuant to the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019.
There are two offences that are created by the Act.
The first is where an individual operates a device under the clothing of another. The ingredients of this offence, i.e. what would need to be proven, are as follows:
- That the Defendant operated equipment under the clothes of another;
- The purpose of this is to observe, where they would not otherwise be visible, for the purpose of either obtaining sexual gratification for themselves or another or humiliating/alarming/distressing the person of whose clothing the device is operated under:
- Another’s genitals/buttocks; or
- The underwear covering another’s genitals/buttocks.
- And the Defendant does so without the other person’s consent or does not reasonably believe they would be consenting.
The second offence is where the Defendant records/takes an image beneath the clothing of another person. The ingredients of the offence are as follows:
- That the Defendant records an image under the clothing of another;
- The image is of, where they would not otherwise be visible, :
- Another’s genitals/buttocks; or
- The underwear covering another’s genitals/buttocks.
- This is done with the purpose of looking at the image, or for another person to look at the image, for the purpose of either obtaining sexual gratification for themselves or another or humiliating/alarming/distressing the person of whom the photo is taken
- And the Defendant does so without the other person’s consent or does not reasonably believe they would be consenting.
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