Gross indecency

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Gross indecency is a crime in some parts of the English-speaking world, originally used to criminalize sexual activity between men that fell short of sodomy, which required penetration. The term was first used in British law in a statute of the British Parliament in 1885 and was carried forward in other statutes throughout the British Empire. The offence was never actually defined in any of the statutes which used it, which left the scope of the offence to be defined by court decisions.

Contents

History

The term gross indecency was first used in the Labouchere Amendment (section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885), which criminalized sexual acts between men, including those done in private.

Gross indecency statutes consequently spread throughout the British Empire. Canada adopted the term in section 178 of the Criminal Code in 1892. The term was also used in the Criminal Code (sections 206 (1906, 1927), 149 (1953–1954), 157 (1970), 161 (1985)) as well as in the Criminal Law Amendment Act (1968–1969, section 7); however, all statutes that used the term were repealed in 1985 with an amendment to both the Criminal Code and the Canada Evidence Act. [1]

The United Kingdom later used the term in the Sexual Offences Act 1956 and in section 1(1) of the Indecency with Children Act 1960.

Notable cases

Oscar Wilde was charged and convicted of gross indecency in 1895. His trial and punishment is the subject of the 1997 play Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde .

Alan Turing pleaded guilty to the crime in 1952, the consequences of which led to his alleged suicide in 1954. Turing, who had been convicted of gross indecency for consensual, private homosexual acts, received a posthumous pardon in 2013. [2] In 2017, under the Alan Turing law, all men convicted of gross indecency due to consensual, private sexual acts were pardoned. [2]

Everett George Klippert was the last person in Canada to be arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned for gross indecency for homosexuality before the decriminalization of homosexual acts in 1969; the reform was a direct result of the Klippert case. [3] In 1965 Everett George Klippert was interrogated by the police as part of an arson investigation in the Northwest Territories. Klippert was arrested after admitting that he had had sex with other men. When psychiatrists determined that he was unlikely to stop having sex with men, he was declared a dangerous offender and sentenced to life in prison. Maclean's , Canada's popular newsweekly, then printed an article sympathetic to homosexuals. This led to increasing calls to reform Canada's law on homosexuality. Klippert was released in 1971.

Current legislation

Australia

South Australia

Gross indecency is an indictable offence in the state of South Australia, with gross indecency requiring the involvement of a person under 16 years of age.

A minor indictable offence, gross indecency carries a maximum term of imprisonment of three years for a first time offence, and five years for a subsequent offence. [4]

Kenya

Gross indecency between male persons of any age, in public or private, is a felony punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. [5] Gross indecency is a lesser offence than sodomy, which is punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment. LGBT rights activists are trying to repeal the law. [6]

United States

Michigan

In the United States, Michigan is the only state that currently has gross indecency statutes. Michigan has three types of gross indecency crimes, all of which are five-year felonies:

  • Gross indecency between male persons [7]
  • Gross indecency between female persons [8]
  • Gross indecency between male and female persons [9]

Gross indecency between male persons was codified first, and the other two were made into laws later. Historically, the definition of gross indecency was unclear, and courts relied on nebulous notions such as the "common sense of society". The vagueness of the term allowed for adults who engaged in consensual sex with no monetary transactions in the privacy of their own homes to be charged with the crime, and men who had sex with men were particularly vulnerable to prosecution. Over time, the definition increasingly narrowed through Michigan Supreme Court decisions, and a 1994 decision officially narrowed it to sex acts that occurred in a public place or that involved a minor, the application of force, or a monetary transaction. [10] Michigan now has separate statutes addressing all four aforementioned acts in statutes regarding indecent exposure, criminal sexual conduct (CSC), and prostitution; [11] [12] [13] however, the gross indecency statutes remain in effect.

The gross indecency statutes have been criticized by LGBT rights activists. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

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The Buggery Act 1533, formally An Acte for the punishment of the vice of Buggerie, was an Act of the Parliament of England that was passed during the reign of Henry VIII.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodomy laws in the United States</span> Aspect of United States law

The United States has inherited sodomy laws which constitutionally outlawed a variety of sexual acts that are deemed to be illegal, illicit, unlawful, unnatural and/or immoral from the colonial-era based laws in the 17th century. While they often targeted sexual acts between persons of the same sex, many sodomy-related statutes employed definitions broad enough to outlaw certain sexual acts between persons of different sexes, in some cases even including acts between married persons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, or "An Act to make further provision for the Protection of Women and Girls, the suppression of brothels, and other purposes," was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the latest in a 25-year series of legislation in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland beginning with the Offences against the Person Act 1861. It raised the age of consent from 13 years of age to 16 years of age and delineated the penalties for sexual offences against women and minors. It also strengthened existing legislation against prostitution and homosexuality. This act was also notable for the circumstances of its passage in Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual Offences Act 1967</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Sexual Offences Act 1967 is an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It legalised homosexual acts in England and Wales, on the condition that they were consensual, in private and between two men who had attained the age of 21. The law was extended to Scotland by the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 and to Northern Ireland by the Homosexual Offences Order 1982.

Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, commonly known as the Labouchere Amendment, made "gross indecency" a crime in the United Kingdom. In practice, the law was used broadly to prosecute male homosexuals where actual sodomy could not be proven. The penalty of life imprisonment for sodomy was also so harsh that successful prosecutions were rare. The new law was much more enforceable. Section 11 was repealed and re-enacted by section 13 of the Sexual Offences Act 1956, which in turn was repealed by the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which partially decriminalised male homosexual behaviour.

The ages of consent for sexual activity vary from age 15 to 18 across Australia, New Zealand and other parts of Oceania. The specific activity and the gender of its participants is also addressed by the law. The minimum age is the age at or above which an individual can engage in unfettered sexual relations with another person of minimum age. Close in age exceptions may exist and are noted where applicable. In Vanuatu the homosexual age of consent is set higher at 18, while the heterosexual age of consent is 15. Same sex sexual activity is illegal at any age for males in Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Samoa, Niue, Tonga and Tuvalu; it is outlawed for both men and women in the Solomon Islands. In all other places the age of consent is independent of sexual orientation or gender.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ages of consent in Africa</span> Ages of consent for sexual activity in the countries of Africa

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George Everett Klippert was the last person in Canada to be arrested, charged, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned for gross indecency before the decriminalization of homosexual acts in 1969; decriminalization was a direct result of the Klippert case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Tanzania</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in the Gambia</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Gambia face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal for both men and women in the Gambia. Criminalisation commenced under the colonial rule of the British. The 1933 Criminal Code provides penalties of prison terms of up to fourteen years. In 2014, the country amended its code to impose even harsher penalties of life imprisonment for "aggravated" cases. The gender expression of transgender individuals is also legally restricted in the country. While the United States Department of State reports that the laws against homosexual activity are not "actively enforced", arrests have occurred; the NGO Human Rights Watch, reports regular organised actions by law enforcement against persons suspected of homosexuality and gender non-conformity.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodomy law</span> Laws criminalising certain sexual acts

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ages of consent in the United States</span> U.S. law on age of consent to sexual activity

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Tuvalu</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Tuvalu face legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Sections 153, 154 and 155 of the Penal Code outlaw male homosexual intercourse with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison, but the law is not enforced. Employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been banned since 2017. Since 2023, the Constitution of Tuvalu has banned same-sex marriage.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Northern Nigeria</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Turing law</span> 2017 British law pardoning formerly illegal sex acts

The "Alan Turing law" is an informal term for the law in the United Kingdom, contained in the Policing and Crime Act 2017, which serves as an amnesty law to pardon men who were cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts. The provision is named after Alan Turing, the World War II codebreaker and computing pioneer, who was convicted of gross indecency in 1952. Turing received a royal pardon posthumously in 2013. The law applies in England and Wales.

Article 365 of the Sri Lankan Penal Code criminalizes "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and provides for a penalty of up to ten years in prison.

References

  1. ↑ "Acts of Gross Indecency". www.constancebackhouse.ca.
  2. 1 2 Craig, Jon (19 October 2016). "Men to be pardoned for abolished sex offences". Sky News. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "Acts of gross indecency". Archived from the original on 2014-02-28.
  5. ↑ "Kenya Penal Code, Sections 162, 163, and 165" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  6. ↑ "Civil rights group launches challenge to Kenya's strict anti-gay laws". The Independent. 16 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Gross indecency; between male persons". Legislature.MI.gov. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Gross indecency; female persons". Legislature.MI.gov. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Gross indecency; between male and female persons". Legislature.MI.gov. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Lexis Advance - Online Legal Research -LexisNexis". litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com. Archived from the original on 2017-08-23. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  11. ↑ "Michigan Legislature - Section 750.335a". www.legislature.mi.gov.
  12. ↑ "Michigan Legislature - 328-1931-LXXVI". www.legislature.mi.gov.
  13. ↑ "Michigan Legislature - 328-1931-LXVII". www.legislature.mi.gov.
  14. ↑ Serra, Rudy (25 June 2009). "Viewpoint: Keep crying, Corvino - Michigan remains far behind". PrideSource.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-14. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
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