Some sentence levels for offences, including sexual offences, have been increasing over the last 20 years.
These laws are applied retrospectively so someone found guilty of a historic sexual assault could have two completely different sentences depending on when the crime was committed. For example, indecent assault on an underage girl carried a sentence of up to 2 years before 1960, became up to 5 years in 1961 if the victim was under 13 and went up again in 1985 to up to 10 years.
This really shows a change in culture and attitude towards sexual offenders. Is it any wonder that offenders such as Savile were able to operate the way they did?
How far we’ve come … still further to go.
If you want to report a sexual offence you can use the Safeline ISVA Service and we also offer free counselling to survivors of rape and sexual abuse.
For more information, talk to our friendly Helpline Team.
