Crimes of indecency in Scots law
Certain laws are in place in Scotland to protect the welfare of children under the age of puberty. In Scotland and in the legal sense, puberty is at the age of 12 for females and 14 for the age of males.
Definition: "A crime at common law for any person to indulge in indecent practises towards children under the age of puberty, whether they are consenting or not". Examples of this could include indecently exposing private parts of a female or male to young children, improper handling of the private parts of children, inducing children to handle the private parts of others and taking indecent photographs of children.
Indecent conduct could be constituted as being
Indecent assault an aggravation of the common law offence of assault, aggravated by the indecent manner in which it is committed.[2] An assault may be indecent irrespective of the intention or motive of the accused and it does not need to be shown that the accused committed the assault for sexual gratification.[3]
References
- ^ Webster v. Dominick [2003] ScotHC HCJ 67 [1]
- ^ Jury Manual. Parliament House, Edinburgh: The Judicial Institute for Scotland. p. 208. Archived from the original on 30 January 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
- ^ Grainger v. Her Majesty's Advocate [2005] ScotHC HCJAC 11 [2]