BRITAIN: Britain has unveiled plans to clamp down on paedophiles and rapists in the biggest overhaul of its sex laws in more than 50 years. The Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, said yesterday he was getting tough with adults who used the Internet to prey on children while scrapping 19th-century laws which discriminated against homosexuals.
"The current law on sex offences is inadequate, antiquated and discriminatory," Mr Blunkett said in a statement. "It does not reflect changes in society, social attitudes and what we now know about patterns of abuse."
Pressure to toughen the law against paedophiles has grown after a series of high-profile crimes involving children.
Under the Sexual Offences Bill, maximum jail terms for child sex crimes will be raised and any sexual activity with a child under 13 will be classed as rape. "Grooming" - befriending children with the intention of eventually committing a sexual offence - will be outlawed. People displaying "inappropriate sexual behaviour" towards children will be subject to civil orders.
Children's charities welcomed the move, but civil rights groups said they feared it would lead to people being prosecuted for a crime the state thought they might commit in the future.
The first radical overhaul of sex laws since 1956 will also sweep aside 19th-century laws governing homosexual acts. Laws on buggery, gross indecency and soliciting by men will be repealed.
The changes will define when consent is "most unlikely to have been given" in rape cases. The Home Office has been trying to raise the conviction rate for rape from its current 7 per cent.
The jail term for drugging a person with the intention of committing an indecent act will be raised from two to 10 years. A new offence of voyeurism will cover people who spy on others when they "had a reasonable expectation of privacy".
The bill is expected to become law in about a year.