Key step forward for 'Sammy's Law' to pardon criminalised child sexual exploitation victims

Sammy Woodhouse has been campaigning for what has been dubbed 'Sammy's Law', which would pardon child sexual abuse victims for crimes they were coerced into committing and remove any offences from their criminal records.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which has been conducting a major investigation into police misconduct in regards to the Rotherham CSE scandal, has released a report this week which includes a recommendation that the Law Commission reviews the legislative framework around offences committed while a child or young person is being groomed or exploited to identify whether any changes to legislation would be appropriate to reduce the impact on their future life prospects.

It added: "This should include both the availability of substantive defences and the potential to filter convictions which occurred in such circumstances during criminal records disclosure."

Steve Noonan, IOPC director of major investigations, said: "It is a tragedy that so many of the survivors we spoke to now have criminal records as a result of their actions while being exploited and there must be action across the judicial system to protect vulnerable young people and safeguard their futures.”

The Law Commission, an independent body which is responsible for reviewing the nation's laws, has now confirmed it will be analysing how and if the change can be made.

A spokesperson for the Law Commission said: “The Law Commission thanks the IOPC for their recommendation. We have accepted it as a formal submission to our 14th programme and will be analysing it alongside other proposals for law reform projects. We aim to announce our final programme of law reform in 2022.”

Ms Woodhouse said she was pleased the IOPC had made the recommendation.

"I have been speaking about this for years because so many people have been criminalised and still are to this day," she said.

"People need to to understand how this affects us in our lives. A criminal record that you got at 15 comes up when you apply for a job and when you apply for home insurance or car insurance, you have to declare it.

"You literally pay financially for being a victim.

"There is a lot of talk about CSE but not so much about the criminal exploitation side of it."

The IOPC report said: "Many survivors we spoke to during our work on Operation Linden now have criminal records as a result of their actions when they were being exploited.

"As a result, survivors’ lives have been adversely impacted and this has affected issues like employment. The criminalisation of exploited children also crosses over into child criminal exploitation. If a child is viewed as a ‘criminal’ this may affect the way they are dealt with by the police and the likelihood of appropriate safeguarding action being taken.

"Looking beyond criminal actions to the underlying reasons behind them is a key part of police officers using their professional curiosity. However, we also recognise that there is a difficult balance to strike in that if the police took no action against children and young people this could make them more vulnerable to exploitation."

It noted: "Section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 created a non-prosecution principle for victims of trafficking or modern slavery, however this does not apply clearly to child sexual exploitation."

Rotherham MP Sarah Champion welcomed the IOPC recommendations that action should be taken to help survivors who have criminal records as a result of their actions while being exploited.

She said: “It is a sad reality of CSE that victims often receive criminal convictions as a consequence of their abuse. These convictions have a severe and lasting impact upon their future life prospects.”

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said he was also supportive of Sammy's Law becoming a reality.

Read more:

Sammy Woodhouse - I endured sexual abuse, now I fight to protect others

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