NCJ Number
152459
Journal
Journal of Forensic Psychiatry Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1994) Pages: 123-136
Date Published
1994
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article describes a case heard by the English House of Lords regarding the practice of sado-masochism among a group of homosexual men.
Abstract
The activities of the group began in 1978 and were discovered several years later as a result of an unrelated investigation. At no time were there any complaints made to police or any need for medical treatment; all the men were consenting adults of normal mental capacity. The activities were video-recorded for the personal viewing of the participants. While four men pleaded guilty to charges of keeping a disorderly house and another pleaded guilty to publishing an obscene article, the appeals arose out of further charges brought under the Offenses Against Persons Act. The House of Lords dismissed the appeal, holding that, whereas the prosecution had to prove the absence of consent when the charge was one of common assault, that was not necessary in most cases under the sections of the Act invoked here. Here, the prosecution had only to prove the absence of consent under these charges where there was good reason for the harm being caused. The physical satisfaction derived by the defendants through sado-masochism was not deemed to be a good reason. 8 references