Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 March 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to end the "rough sex" defence.
Violence against women and girls is one of the most devastating and fundamental violations of human rights, and it is vital that perpetrators are held to account. In light of this, we have strengthened the criminal law on sexual offences, increased support to victims organisations and encouraged more victims to report their experiences.
In Scotland, to claim any victim ‘consented’ to the act resulting in their injury or death is not a defence in itself to crimes of assault to injury, culpable homicide or murder. It is understood that while there have been cases where the accused has argued that the victim consented to the acts resulting in their death, these resulted in conviction for murder or culpable homicide.
Nonetheless, I recognise that there is still a perception in some quarters that the ‘rough sex’ defence exists in Scotland and we continue to keep the law under review.