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also raised important issues of legal policy by arguing that
the law should not seek to proscribe homosexual acts between
consenting adults in private. The criminal law should instead
seek to protect people from being coerced into such acts, to
protect juveniles and to defend standards of public decency.
In its conclusions The Law Reform Commission stated
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"it should not be a function of the law to enforce
moral judgements in areas where there is no need to
protect others; but that where conduct harms people
or offends the public, then the law should impose
sanctions." (7)
10.
This view of the role of the criminal law echoes the
views expressed by the Wolfenden Committee in its Report on
Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in 1957 -
"In this field, its (ie the law's) function, as we
see it, is to preserve public order and decency, to
protect the citizen from what is offensive or
injurious and to provide sufficient safeguards
against exploitation and corruption of others,
particularly those who are specially vulnerable
because they are young, weak in body or mind,
inexperienced, or in a state of special physical,
official or economic dependence.
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