As an organisation that is strongly focused on anti-spiking activism, specialising in universities and the night time economy, we have spent a lot of time analysing the law on spiking and the barriers for victims to reporting crimes. In addition, our Spike Report allows victims to include whether they reported the incident to the police and if they chose not to, why. We have had an overwhelming number of submissions stating an disempowering experience when it comes to reporting, filled with stigma and a lack of action from the police following reports. We are passionate about ensuring that this changes.
Currently, spiking sits under the Sexual Offences Act and the Offences Against The Person Act. Alternatively, it can be prosecuted alongside sexual harassment or violence but it is not a standalone criminal offence. The lack of clarity in the law about what spiking is and how a perpetrator can be charged for it makes victims question whether they have been spiked, doesn't allow anyone to understand the consequences for perpetrators and it is even confusing for police officers to understand how to charge perpetrators of spiking. Furthermore, there is a severe lack of police data on spiking because it is not clear how to log reports of spiking due to the ambiguity of the law currently. Therefore, we are demanding that the government make spiking a standalone criminal offence through our campaign, Spiking Out Justice In.
Get involved by completing the surveys below. We have one survey for hospitality staff at the forefront of the night time economy and one survey for everyone.
If you'd like to see more about our Safe Place Project, our community led, data driven training for bars, festivals, SUs and in the workplace, please get in touch.
