The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
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Under consideration PE2102: Require anyone found guilty of rape or sexual assault to be registered as a sex offender
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to abolish the option of an absolute discharge in cases where the accused is found guilty of rape or sexual assault and introduce a statutory minimum sentence for these offences which includes the convicted person being registered as a sex offender.
Background information
Between 2018 and 2022, an average of three people every year were granted an absolute discharge as a result of receiving a guilty verdict for sexual assault. It should be noted that absolute discharges will be included in the conviction statistics for these crimes, which are already unacceptably low (Rape:48%, sexual assault 57% compared to 88% average conviction rate of all crimes). An even lower number are registered as sex offenders as a result of these convictions. Information on the Scottish Sentencing Council and Scottish Government websites state that an absolute discharge is used in “exceptional circumstances” or when the judge feels the crime that has been committed “does not merit any form of punishment”. Those who truly believe in justice for victims of sexual assault will agree that there is not any circumstance that is exceptional enough to allow a person found guilty of sexual assault to go unpunished, and that sexual assault always merits a form of punishment.
592 signatures
This petition is now under consideration
Click here for further information about the consideration of this petition.