Scottish executive publishes draft measures to strengthen sex offender legislation

The Scottish executive has launched a public consultation on new
measures to strengthen the legislation on sex offenders.

The measures, outlined in the report of the review of part 1 of
the Sex Offenders Act 1997, would allow the courts to decide when a
violent offence was sexually motivated, lower the sentence
threshold for registration of people convicted of indecent assault
and introduce registration for offences committed overseas.

The Scottish executive is also already consulting on proposals
from the expert panel on sex offending, chaired by Lady Cosgrove,
which recommended lifelong supervision of the most violent
offenders among other measures.

Iain Gray, deputy minister for justice, said: “Taken together,
this represents a comprehensive package of measures showing the
priority we give to protecting the public from dangerous
offenders.”

Deadline for comments on the proposals has been set for 19
October this year.

www.scotland.gov.uk