UK to automatically pardon hundreds convicted of child prostitution as minors

Changes to the law will mean that victims of child sex abuse convicted of child prostitution will have their criminal record wiped (Luciana Guerra/PA) Luciana Guerra

The UK will automatically pardon hundreds of individuals convicted of child prostitution offences as minors under new legal changes. The amendments, part of the Crime and Policing Bill, recognise that the system criminalised victims for actions taken under duress rather than protecting them.

The pardons apply to anyone convicted of loitering or soliciting prostitution offences before they turned 18. The UK abolished child prostitution in law in 2015, but those convicted before that date carried criminal records. The Home Office estimates hundreds of people will benefit from the automatic pardon, which requires no formal request from victims.

Minister: Past failures must be corrected

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said: "These amendments send a clear message: we will not allow failures of the past to define the futures of those who were let down by the system in so many ways. Victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation deserve nothing but compassion and support, not a criminal record. Today, we are taking decisive action to put that right."

The legal changes follow recommendations from Baroness Louise Casey's review of grooming gangs, which the government published in June. Baroness Casey had emphasised: "Unless Government and all the organisations involved are able to stand up and acknowledge the failures of the past, to apologise for them unreservedly, and to act now to put things right, including current cases, we will not move on as a society."

Gabrielle Shaw, chief executive of the National Association of People Abused in Childhood, called the move a significant step toward restoring justice. She said: "Our own research, drawn from over 46,000 interactions with victims, tells us that both recognition of the abuse and being believed are integral to how survivors themselves define a positive justice outcome. The decision to disregard and pardon these convictions is a significant step towards building a justice system that can offer better, more survivor-centred outcomes."

Challenges for broader inquiry

The government also established Operation Beaconport, a new national policing operation to review closed cases of child sexual exploitation.

However, the broader national inquiry into child grooming gangs, which the Prime Minister announced in June, faces challenges after two candidates withdrew from chairing the probe and five women resigned from the victims liaison panel last month.

Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).