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old man was sentenced to imprisonment for one year for
attempted buggery with a 13-year old boy and two adult men
were each sentenced to six months' imprisonment, suspended for
one year, for consensual acts committed in private. In 1987,
two men were convicted of homosexual buggery, with children.
One has not yet been sentenced; the other was sentenced to
seven years' imprisonment. Clearly, the courts are reluctant
to pass the maximum sentences available for acts in private
between consenting adults. The penalty of life imprisonment
is normally imposed only for the most serious offences against
the person such as rape and murder. The maximum penalties
provided for homosexual acts seem unduly high for acts which
take place between consenting adults in private. It would
seem reasonable for the law, and the penalties which it
provides, to distinguish clearly between the worst example of
assaults against the person and acts committed with consent.
47.
If this option were to be adopted it is suggested
that the maximum penalty for an act of buggery committed in
private between two consenting men over 21 should be reduced
from life imprisonment to a fine of $5,000 and imprisonment
for one year; the maximum penalty for an act of gross
indecency under such circumstances should be reduced from
imprisonment for two years to a fine of $2,000 and
imprisonment for three months.
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