Exploring the viability of creating a specific offence for forced
marriage
Forcing someone into marriage is a distinct criminal offence in a
number of EU States, including Austria , Cyprus and Germany .
Although there is no specific criminal offence relating to 'forcing
someone to marry' in England and Wales, perpetrators of FM can be
prosecuted under existing criminal offences, for instance using
threatening behaviour, assault, kidnapping, abduction, imprisonment
and murder. The UK has recently amended existing legislation to
introduce a civil law (the Forced Marriage Civil Protection Act
2007) aimed at preventing forced marriage. Despite the introduction
of this civil remedy there remains on-going debate about whether a
specific offence associated with forcing someone into marriage
should be created.
This questionnaire seeks to explore the potential for creating such
a specific stand-alone criminal provision to addressing forced
marriage, and the potential limitations.
Please note that there are 10 detailed questions in this survey
that require your response.
Deadline for responses: 31 March 2011
Click here to
complete the questionnaire
