The Sexual Offences Act

Historical Context Essay

Tammy Grimshaw (Universidad de Jaen)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Domains

Legislation (Bills, Acts, Laws ...)

Dates

Date of occurrence 1967-07-04

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

Private sexual acts between men over the age of twenty-one were decriminalised in England and Wales upon the passage of the Sexual Offences Act in 1967. However, the law and legal reforms relating to homosexuality have an extensive history imbued with public controversy.

The first English civil law against sodomy was passed by Parliament in 1533. Under this statute, sodomy was punishable by death. In 1861, the death penalty for sodomy was abolished; thereafter, the punishment for this sex act was life imprisonment. Significantly, sodomy was a punishable offence whether it occurred between persons of the same sex or persons of the opposite sex. In other words, the laws in force at this time focused on sex acts, not categories o…

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2452 words

Citation: Grimshaw, Tammy. "The Sexual Offences Act". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 August 2004 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1383, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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The Sexual Offences Act

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