New Civil Orders to contain Sexually Harmful Behaviour in the Community

This article presents an overview of the new civil orders brought in by the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 to combat sexually harmful behaviour in the community in the United Kingdom. The two new orders – the Sexual Risk Order and the Sexual Harm Prevention Order – will replace earlier orders available in the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The new orders with their lower evidential thresholds should be easier to obtain and involve less work for the police. They may also present a number of difficulties in terms of human rights and have already been described as 'sweeping' powers and 'tougher' powers. The article looks at the origins of the new law and their subsequent development and seeks to examine these contesting viewpoints of balancing public protection with human rights.