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Increase the maximum sentences for historical child abuse cases

Submitted by Caroline Eshghi on Sunday 29th June 2025

Published on Tuesday 16th September 2025

Current status: Closed

Closed: Monday 16th March 2026

Signatures: 61

Relevant Departments

Tagged with

2022 ~ abuse ~ abuse cases ~ Carry ~ Child ~ child abuse ~ Children ~ Courts ~ Crime ~ Denying ~ Historic ~ Horrific ~ Individuals ~ Justices ~ Law ~ place ~ Police ~ sentence ~ Standards ~ Survivors ~ The Law ~ The Police

Petition Action

Increase the maximum sentences for historical child abuse cases

Petition Details

Currently, we think the law fails survivors of historical child abuse
We are calling for new maximum sentence that apply to historical child abuse cases prosecuted under the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

Additional Information

Under current legislation, courts must sentence offenders based on the guidelines that were in place at the time the abuse occurred, not the standards we hold today. This means that individuals who committed horrific historic acts of cruelty against children may receive a shorter sentence
Similar offences would now carry a longer maximum sentence. We think survivors of historical abuse are denied this justice simply because their suffering occurred before the law caught up.


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