In a further move to protect the vulnerable from sexual crime, the meaning of sexual exploitation has been redefined under the Policing and Crime Act 2017. We look at the new definition and what it means for victims.
The 2017 Act has been in force since 31 January, and redefined ‘sexual exploitation’ in the context of children and vulnerable adults under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Under the 2003 Act, a person is sexually exploited if:
• He or she offers or provides sexual services to another person in return for payment or a promise of payment to him or her (or a third person) on at least one occasion
• an indecent image of him or her is recorded
The 2017 Act extended this definition to include the streaming of indecent images, or images “otherwise transmitted”. This will include, for instance, images sent digitally via electronic devices
There is no specific offence of child sexual exploitation. However, it is (says CPS guidance which has been updated in light of the redefinition of sexual exploitation) defined in government guidance and policy in this way:
'The sexual exploitation of children and young people under 18 involves exploitative situations, contexts and friendships where young people (or a third person or persons) receive 'something' (e.g. food, accommodation, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, affection, gifts, money) as a result of performing, and/or others performing on them, sexual activities.
'Child sexual exploitation can occur through the use of technology without the child's immediate recognition, for example the persuasion to post sexual images on the internet/mobile phones with no immediate payment or gain. In all cases those exploiting the child/young person have power over them by virtue of their age, gender, intellect, physical strength and/or economic or other resources.
'Violence, coercion and intimidation are common, involvement in exploitative relationships being characterised in the main by the child or young person's limited availability of choice resulting from their social/economic and/or emotional vulnerability.'
The redefinition to include images sent digitally goes a long way to assist the police and prosecutors to successfully charge and convict offenders guilty of sexual exploitation, and protect the vulnerable.