Abstract
This note examines the case of a group of gay men who, having engaged in consensual sexual acts together, became known as the `Bolton Seven' following their conviction in 1998 for offences of buggery and/or gross indecency. More particularly the note scrutinises the implications of the ages of the participants (one of whom, at 17\(\tfrac{1}{2}\), was unable to give lawful consent to sexual intercourse with a man) in the light of the enactment of Part I of the Sex Offenders Act 1997 which introduces a system of compulsory registration by some convicted and cautioned sex offenders with the police (including men convicted of, or cautioned for, buggery or gross indecency). The note explores the justification for inclusion of these offences within the remit of the1997 Act together with the cultural construction of gay men as predatory and as constituting a risk to younger members of society. It also analyses some of the effects of the registration requirement in terms of it constituting a potential violation of fundamental rights such as equality and respect for private life. This discussion is located particularly within the context of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the introduction of the Human Rights Act 1998 in the U.K..
REFERENCES
Armstrong, K., “Tales of the Community: Sexual Orientation Discrimination and EC Law”, J.S.W.F.L. 20/4 (1998), 455–479.
Beck, U., Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity (London: Sage, 1992).
Bridgeman, J., “They Gag Women, Don't They?”, in Law and Body Politics: Regulating the Female Body, ed. J. Bridgeman & S. Millns (Aldershot: Dartmouth, 1995), 22–52.
Bridgeman, J., “Criminalising the One Who Really Cared”, Feminist Legal Studies VI/2 (1998), 245-256.
Clements, L. & Young, Y. (eds.), “Human Rights: Changing the Culture”, J.L.S. 26 (1999) special edition.
Cobley, C., “Keeping Track of Sex Offenders - Part I of the Sex Offenders Act 1997”, M.L.R. 60 (1997), 690–692.
Collier, R., Law, Masculinity and the Family (London: Routledge, 1995).
Dicey, A.V., An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution, 10th edn. (London: Macmillan, 1967).
Ericson, R. & Haggerty, K., Policing the Risk Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
Ewing, K., “The Human Rights Act and Parliamentary Democracy”, M.L.R. 62 (1998), 79–99.
Feldman, D., “The Human Rights Act 1998 and Constitutional Principles”, Legal Studies 19/2 (1999), 165–206.
Fredman, S., “Equality Issues”, in The Impact of the Human Rights Bill on English Law, ed. B.S. Markesinis (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 111–132.
Gibson, S., “The Structure of the Veil”, M.L.R. 52 (1989), 420–440.
Labour Government, White Paper, Rights Brought Home: The Human Rights Bill, October 1997, Cm 3782.
Lacey, N. & Wells, C., Reconstructing Criminal Law (London: Butterworths, 1998).
McDonald, A., “Dicey Dissected: Dominant, Dormant, Displaced”, in Feminist Perspectives on Public Law, ed. S. Millns & N. Whitty (London: Cavendish, 1999), 107–128.
MacKinnon, C.A., “Difference and Dominance: On Sex Discrimination”, in Feminism Unmodified: Discourses on Life and Law (Cambridge M.A.: Harvard University Press, 1987), 32–45.
Mullender, R., “Privacy, Paedophilia and the European Convention on Human Rights: A Deontological Approach”, P.L. (1998), 384–388.
Power, H., “Gay Men and Part 1 of the Sex Offenders Act, 1997”, Web J.C.L.I. 1 (1998), http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/1998/issue1/power1.html.
Phillips, A. (ed.), Feminism and Equality (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1987).
Raz, J., “The Rule of Law and its Virtue”, L.Q.R. 93 (1977), 195–211.
Richardson, J., “Beyond Equality and Difference: Sexual Difference in the Work of Adriana Cavalero”, Feminist Legal Studies VI/1 (1998), 105–120.
Smart, C., Feminism and the Power of Law (London: Routledge, 1989).
Sohrab, J.A., “Avoiding the ‘Exquisite Trap’: A Critical Look at the Equal Treatment/ Special Treatment Debate in Law”, Feminist Legal Studies I/2 (1993), 163–177.
Soothill K. & Francis B., “Sexual Reconvictions and the Sex Offenders Act 1997”, N.L.J. 127 (1997), 1285 and 1324.
Stychin, C., Law's Desire: Sexuality and the Limits of Justice (London, Routledge, 1995).
Wadham, J. & Mountfield, H., Blackstone's Guide to the Human Rights Act 1998 (Blackstone Press: London, 1999).
Ward, D., “Fight Grows for Gays in Video Case”, The Guardian (23 January, 1998).
Wells, C., “ ‘I Blame the Parents': Fitting New Genes in Old Criminal Laws”, M.L.R. 61 (1998), 724–739.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dearden, N. The Queen and the `Bolton Seven'. Feminist Legal Studies 7, 317–332 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009218800557
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009218800557