Wolfenden Report

Historical Context Note

Tammy Grimshaw (Universidad de Jaen)
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[Preliminary entry]. The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution was known as the Wolfenden report, after Lord Wolfenden, the chairman of the committee. It recommended that homosexual behavior between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence. The report led to the passage of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, which replaced the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act that had made homosexual acts illegal.

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Citation: Grimshaw, Tammy. "Wolfenden Report". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 August 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1382, accessed 24 November 2024.]

1382 Wolfenden Report 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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