Man declared not guilty of rape. Must notify police if planning to have sex.

[Askold]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-35385227

Short version: Dude was accused of rape but later retrial reversed his sentence (because the victim had in fact consented to sex, so it wasn't a rape) but now he must notify the police in UK if he plans to have sex with a woman OR he will be sentenced to jail for 5 years.

The order - which was drawn up by magistrates in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, and extended in York - reads: "You must disclose the details of any female including her name, address and date of birth.

"You must do this at least 24 hours prior to any sexual activity taking place."

Note: ANY sexual activity. I wonder where they draw the line?

I also wonder if this means that if someone as much as kisses him without a warning he goes to jail or will he not be punished if he hadn't consented to the "sexy business."

Is he a rapist or not? Didn't they release him because they couldn't prove that he is a rapist? Doesn't "innocent until proven guilty" apply in Britain?

[Ironchew]

Disclosure, disclosure, disclosure.

[Art Vandelay]

Is he a rapist or not? Didn't they release him because they couldn't prove that he is a rapist? Doesn't "innocent until proven guilty" apply in Britain?

Apparently, it's "guilty if proven innocent".

[Eiki-mun]

Remind me not to live in Britain. Ever.

[Askold]

Remind me not to live in Britain. Ever.

ASBO!

Anti Social Behaviour Order is such a wonderful thing. One lady had (loud) sex with her boyfriend (or possibly a string of lovers. I can't remember the details. Healthy sex life in any case) and her neighbours complained about the loud noises so she got a ASBO saying that she'd go to jail if she had sex.

...I actually wrote a few other examples out of memory but then remembered that these were all gathered on a convenient site so here we go. Starting with the one I just mentioned:

A 48-year-old woman jailed for making too much noise during sex. She was given an order on 17 April forbidding her from making excessive noise but breached it three times in the following 10 days. On 26 April she was remanded in custody until 5 May (April 2009) Appeared in court on 6 May and was remanded in custody. The case was also covered by The Times (May 2009) She claims that her ASBO breaches Article 8 of the Human Rights Act (November 2009) Arrested again (March 2010) Update: Spared jail a second time (June 2010)

Banned from every shop in Denbighshire for ten years (March 2009)

A 45-year-old banned from "making noise, shouting or using swearwords" (February 2009)

The criminalisation of spitting (January 2008)

A dispute between two neighbours ended with this 39-year-old being given an order for singing in her bathroom (July 2007)

Ideal Upholstery - In a rare case of a company being threatened with an order, this furniture factory has been targeted after complaints from local residents. However, environmental services found that noise and pollution levels did not constitute a "statutory nuisance", so an ASBO would be used instead to effectively bypass the law (November 2006)

That last one actually shows WHY these things exist. When the accused does something that isn't illegal (like causes minor amount of noise that does not violate laws or spits on the ground) a judge can simply make an ASBO and then violating that ASBO is an offence that can carry heavy penalty. Laws no longer matter as long as someone in the community doesn't like you and a judge is willing to make your life in to hell they can make an ASBO that -had it been a law would have been a violation of your rights- forbids you from doing whatever the hell the judge doesn't want you to do.

More: http://www.statewatch.org/asbo/asbowatch-extreme.htm

[Ultimate Paragon]

Remind me not to live in Britain. Ever.

ASBO!

Anti Social Behaviour Order is such a wonderful thing. One lady had (loud) sex with her boyfriend (or possibly a string of lovers. I can't remember the details. Healthy sex life in any case) and her neighbours complained about the loud noises so she got a ASBO saying that she'd go to jail if she had sex.

...I actually wrote a few other examples out of memory but then remembered that these were all gathered on a convenient site so here we go. Starting with the one I just mentioned:

A 48-year-old woman jailed for making too much noise during sex. She was given an order on 17 April forbidding her from making excessive noise but breached it three times in the following 10 days. On 26 April she was remanded in custody until 5 May (April 2009) Appeared in court on 6 May and was remanded in custody. The case was also covered by The Times (May 2009) She claims that her ASBO breaches Article 8 of the Human Rights Act (November 2009) Arrested again (March 2010) Update: Spared jail a second time (June 2010)

Banned from every shop in Denbighshire for ten years (March 2009)

A 45-year-old banned from "making noise, shouting or using swearwords" (February 2009)

The criminalisation of spitting (January 2008)

A dispute between two neighbours ended with this 39-year-old being given an order for singing in her bathroom (July 2007)

Ideal Upholstery - In a rare case of a company being threatened with an order, this furniture factory has been targeted after complaints from local residents. However, environmental services found that noise and pollution levels did not constitute a "statutory nuisance", so an ASBO would be used instead to effectively bypass the law (November 2006)

That last one actually shows WHY these things exist. When the accused does something that isn't illegal (like causes minor amount of noise that does not violate laws or spits on the ground) a judge can simply make an ASBO and then violating that ASBO is an offence that can carry heavy penalty. Laws no longer matter as long as someone in the community doesn't like you and a judge is willing to make your life in to hell they can make an ASBO that -had it been a law would have been a violation of your rights- forbids you from doing whatever the hell the judge doesn't want you to do.

More: http://www.statewatch.org/asbo/asbowatch-extreme.htm

I really hope that doesn't spread.

[LeTipex]

The shit? How is such a system still legal in a western country?

[niam2023]

I am never ever going to Britain.

[RavynousHunter]

The shit? How is such a system still legal in a western country?

There's a reason things like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange take place in Britain.  >.>

[Canadian Mojo]

The shit? How is such a system still legal in a western country?

There's a reason things like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange take place in Britain.  >.>

More to the point: there is a reason the underpinnings of America are pretty much the antithesis of it.

[Tolpuddle Martyr]

It gets really Kafquaesque when ASBO's are applied to the mentally ill, which happens all the time in the UK.

[niam2023]

It gets really Kafquaesque when ASBO's are applied to the mentally ill, which happens all the time in the UK.

REALLY not ever going to Britain.

Thanks I guess, Tol.

[R. U. Sirius]

The shit? How is such a system still legal in a western country?

There's a reason things like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange take place in Britain.  >.>

More to the point: there is a reason the underpinnings of America are pretty much the antithesis of it.

I'm honestly surprised something like this hasn't already been tried in the U.S. We already have programs to civilly commit sex offenders that have served their prison sentences until they can prove they're no longer dangerous; the vast majority of people so committed die in those facilities. There's also the fact that submitting to voluntary sex offender treatment is considered a mark in a defendant's favor...but an integral part of sex offender treatment is admitting guilt, which does absolutely bupkiss for people who are pleading innocent, especially the falsely accused. Then we have the hit list, thousands of different laws restricting where sex offenders can live and work beyond any reasonable connection to their crime, businesses specifically asking if applicants have even been ACCUSED of sex offenses (looking at you, KFC)...

[I am lizard]

The shit? How is such a system still legal in a western country?

There's a reason things like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange take place in Britain.  >.>

More to the point: there is a reason the underpinnings of America are pretty much the antithesis of it.

I'm honestly surprised something like this hasn't already been tried in the U.S. We already have programs to civilly commit sex offenders that have served their prison sentences until they can prove they're no longer dangerous; the vast majority of people so committed die in those facilities. There's also the fact that submitting to voluntary sex offender treatment is considered a mark in a defendant's favor...but an integral part of sex offender treatment is admitting guilt, which does absolutely bupkiss for people who are pleading innocent, especially the falsely accused. Then we have the hit list, thousands of different laws restricting where sex offenders can live and work beyond any reasonable connection to their crime, businesses specifically asking if applicants have even been ACCUSED of sex offenses (looking at you, KFC)...

Make no mistake, this isn't something that can happen to the affluent and powerful, false accusations are primarily leveled at minorities (y'know "scary black ape-men out to rape your children")

http://www.truth-out.org/speakout/item/25848-how-often-do-wrongful-convictions-involve-black-defendants
http://www.innocenceproject.org/news-events-exonerations/african-american-wrongful-convictions-throughout-history

(Someone could probably dug better sources, but you get the idea)

[Canadian Mojo]

The shit? How is such a system still legal in a western country?

There's a reason things like 1984 and A Clockwork Orange take place in Britain.  >.>

More to the point: there is a reason the underpinnings of America are pretty much the antithesis of it.

I'm honestly surprised something like this hasn't already been tried in the U.S. We already have programs to civilly commit sex offenders that have served their prison sentences until they can prove they're no longer dangerous; the vast majority of people so committed die in those facilities. There's also the fact that submitting to voluntary sex offender treatment is considered a mark in a defendant's favor...but an integral part of sex offender treatment is admitting guilt, which does absolutely bupkiss for people who are pleading innocent, especially the falsely accused. Then we have the hit list, thousands of different laws restricting where sex offenders can live and work beyond any reasonable connection to their crime, businesses specifically asking if applicants have even been ACCUSED of sex offenses (looking at you, KFC)...

Yes, unfortunately America has a distressing tendency to fall well short of the ideas set up in its constitution on a pretty regular basis.