{"id":80338,"date":"2017-04-03T07:00:19","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T07:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=872e0333c8e7bc37dd81ab09d27e50b4"},"modified":"2017-04-03T07:00:19","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T07:00:19","slug":"press-release-new-crackdown-on-child-groomers-comes-into-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=80338","title":{"rendered":"Press release: New crackdown on child groomers comes into force"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<ul>\n<li>New offence of sexual communication with a child introduced today (3 April 2017)<\/li>\n<li>Groomers face up to two years in prison and will be automatically placed on the sex offenders register<\/li>\n<li>NSPCC commends Justice Secretary for doing \u201cthe right thing\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Groomers who target children through mobile phones and social media now face 2 years in prison, after a new government law came into force today.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss has acted decisively to bring in a new offence of sexual communication with a child to cover a gap in existing legislation and ensure children are protected. Those found guilty also face being automatically placed on the sex offenders register.<\/p>\n<p>The new offence will allow authorities, including the police and Crown Prosecution Service, to intervene earlier and stamp out abhorrent grooming before sexual activity can occur.<\/p>\n<p>Justice Secretary Elizabeth Truss said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In a world of mobile phones and social media, our children are ever more vulnerable to those who prey on their innocence and exploit their trust.<\/p>\n<p>The best way of protecting our young people from the evils of child abuse is to stop it happening in the first place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">This new offence will give courts the powers to jail anyone who sends a sexual communication to a child \u2013 and stop the process of grooming before it starts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Justice Secretary has done the right thing. This is a victory for the 50,000 people who supported the NSPCC\u2019s Flaw in the Law campaign. It is a victory for common sense. Children should be as safe online as they are offline, wherever they are in the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">This law will give police in England and Wales the powers they need to protect children from online grooming, and to intervene sooner to stop abuse before it starts.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Victims\u2019 Commissioner Baroness Newlove said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We need to make sure we are doing everything possible to protect children from online grooming and predators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">The new law to prevent sexual communication with a child will help keep children safe in a digital world and prevent future victims.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The new offence came into effect today (3 April 2017), and covers both online and offline communication, including through social media, e-mail, and letters.<\/p>\n<p>There are a range of offences already available to deal with sexual communication, depending on the circumstances, but many do not automatically attract sex offender registration.<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Secretary made enacting this clause a priority, and has acted decisively to ensure children are protected both online and offline.<\/p>\n<p>Notes to editors<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>On 3 April 2017 we brought into force section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015.<\/li>\n<li>It is now a criminal offence for anyone aged 18 or over to intentionally communicate with a child under 16, where the person acts for a sexual purpose and the communication is sexual or intended to elicit a sexual response. The offence applies to online and offline communication, including social media, e-mail, texts, letters, etc.<\/li>\n<li>For more information, call the MOJ press office on 0203 334 3536.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New offence of sexual communication with a child introduced today (3 April 2017).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80338"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80338\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}