Local laws around domestic abuse and sexual offences have been updated with stalking and strangulation among the actions now defined as crimes.
The States passed the proposals yesterday, aiming to strengthen victim protection and improve the handling of offenders, while also aligning the island with a UN Convention, something that was agreed upon back in 2020.
The changes will pave the way for other criminal offences to be defined by local laws, along with new, stronger measures to protect victims, changes to court procedures to support vulnerable witnesses, the removal of the ‘reasonable chastisement’ defence when it comes to smacking children, and the future introduction of a domestic abuse offender register.
The new offences
The updated domestic abuse legislation means that stalking is now defined.
The new law will aim to cover a pattern of unwanted behaviour that causes someone alarm or distress. It was acknowledged during the debate that there may be different levels of the offence, with more serious cases (involving fear of violence) potentially carrying a higher maximum sentence.
Civil Orders – to restrict someone’s movements or ability to contact someone else – could be imposed once the law is signed off, meaning Guernsey Police could apply to the courts for extra measures to protect victims even if a criminal prosecution hasn’t yet taken place. Breaching such an order would likely be a criminal offence in itself.
The updated legislation will also crack down on non-fatal strangulation or suffocation with a distinct criminal offence introduced for cases of intentionally strangling or suffocating someone in a domestic abuse context.
A specific law will criminalise Female Genital Mutilation, making it unequivocally illegal in Guernsey. Any victim of FGM locally would already have had some protection under other laws involving violence against a person, but it is now defined in law.
New legislation has also been agreed to make certain forms of sexual harassment that occur in public areas a criminal offence.
Deputies have also agreed on a statutory reviews of domestic abuse deaths.
That change would likely mandate formal reviews when someone dies in circumstances related to domestic abuse.
The States also approved enhanced court powers to protect victims, with the island’s courts expected to get stronger powers to prevent contact between defendants and alleged victims.
Another significant change is expected to prevent an accused person from personally cross-examining their alleged victim in court, to protect the victim from further distress and intimidation.
While not an immediate change, the proposals also include enabling legislation for a future register of individuals convicted of certain domestic abuse offences.
The specifics of this register, including who can access it and what information it holds, will be determined later.
Smacking children
The States also agreed to abolish ‘Reasonable Chastisement’ – which is a customary law defence that currently allows parents or carers to use “reasonable” physical force when disciplining a child.
Scrapping that law will mean that future physical assaults on a child will be subject to the same laws as assaults on adults.
The change will align Guernsey with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the island adopted in 2020.
Sir Gareth Southgate
Deputies took their time to debate these proposals, with references to the former manager of the England Football team, a Netflix show, and a quick quip on the prospect of gently slapping a child.
Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen mentioned Sir Gareth Southgate as part of a passionate speech on the problems facing impressionable young adults and children.
“Sir Gareth Southgate delivered a powerful message about the challenges facing boys and young men in the UK. He was critical of the damaging influence of so-called toxic online influencers who promote harmful ideals and behaviors emphasising the need for positive role models.
“He also highlighted the negative impact of social media, where men are often bombarded with unrealistic images and less healthy endeavours such as gaming, gambling, and pornography.
“Part of the motivation for his lecture was the recent publication ‘Lost Boys’, which is a report published by the Centre for Social Justice, which has highlighted that there is a crisis for boys in the UK. The report covered six key areas, employment, education, family, crime, health, technology and pornography, and as far as I know Ma’am, this work has not been undertaken in Guernsey.
“However, as a near neighbour, some of these various data points should not be ignored, so I won’t go through them in detail, but just some of the highlights here was that it was interesting that since the pandemic, there has been a significant rise in young men who are not in education, employment or training. Young men also face, and this is very interesting, a higher unemployment rate compared to young women. Some recent research is starting to point to the fact that the gender pay gap has reversed for young people, with young women now out earning young men.”
Deputy John Dyke took a different approach, when talking through the ‘Abolition of Reasonable Chastisement’ – suggesting the island could be going too far in interfering in family life.
“I’m a little bit concerned about this one, and I don’t think I’m going to vote for it. It does say chastisement, and reasonable must mean reasonable under the circumstances, and in accordance with current standards. So beating them with a stick is almost certainly not reasonable, but as I say, I think a light slap for a toddler is probably quite necessary in some circumstances for their own best interest.”
You can find the full voting records available online HERE.