Criminal Code Act 1995 (Australia, unsourced)/Chapter 8/270

by Commonwealth of Australia

Division 270—Slavery, sexual servitude and deceptive recruiting

270.1 Definition of slavery

For the purposes of this Division, slavery is the condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised, including where such a condition results from a debt or contract made by the person.

270.2 Slavery is unlawful

Slavery remains unlawful and its abolition is maintained, despite the repeal by the Criminal Code Amendment (Slavery and Sexual Servitude) Act 1999 of Imperial Acts relating to slavery.

270.3 Slavery offences

(1) A person who, whether within or outside Australia, intentionally:

(a) possesses a slave or exercises over a slave any of the other powers attaching to the right of ownership; or

(b) engages in slave trading; or

(c) enters into any commercial transaction involving a slave; or

(d) exercises control or direction over, or provides finance for:

(i) any act of slave trading; or

(ii) any commercial transaction involving a slave;

is guilty of an offence.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 25 years.

(2) A person who:

(a) whether within or outside Australia:

(i) enters into any commercial transaction involving a slave; or

(ii) exercises control or direction over, or provides finance for, any commercial transaction involving a slave; or

(iii) exercises control or direction over, or provides finance for, any act of slave trading; and

(b) is reckless as to whether the transaction or act involves a slave, slavery or slave trading;

is guilty of an offence.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 17 years.

(3) In this section:

slave trading includes:

(a) the capture, transport or disposal of a person with the intention of reducing the person to slavery; or

(b) the purchase or sale of a slave.

(4) A person who engages in any conduct with the intention of securing the release of a person from slavery is not guilty of an offence against this section.

(5) The defendant bears a legal burden of proving the matter mentioned in subsection (4).

270.4 Definition of sexual servitude

(1) For the purposes of this Division, sexual servitude is the condition of a person who provides sexual services and who, because of the use of force or threats:

(a) is not free to cease providing sexual services; or

(b) is not free to leave the place or area where the person provides sexual services.

(2) In this section:

threat means:

(a) a threat of force; or

(b) a threat to cause a person’s deportation; or

(c) a threat of any other detrimental action unless there are reasonable grounds for the threat of that action in connection with the provision of sexual services by a person.

270.5 Jurisdictional requirement

Section 15.2 (extended geographical jurisdiction—category B) applies to an offence against section 270.6 or 270.7.

270.6 Sexual servitude offences

(1) A person:

(a) whose conduct causes another person to enter into or remain in sexual servitude; and

(b) who intends to cause, or is reckless as to causing, that sexual servitude;

is guilty of an offence.

Penalty:

(c) in the case of an aggravated offence (see section 270.8)—imprisonment for 20 years; or

(d) in any other case—imprisonment for 15 years.

(2) A person:

(a) who conducts any business that involves the sexual servitude of other persons; and

(b) who knows about, or is reckless as to, that sexual servitude;

is guilty of an offence.

Penalty:

(c) in the case of an aggravated offence (see section 270.8)—imprisonment for 20 years; or

(d) in any other case—imprisonment for 15 years.

(3) In this section:

conducting a business includes:

(a) taking any part in the management of the business; or

(b) exercising control or direction over the business; or

(c) providing finance for the business.

270.7 Deceptive recruiting for sexual services

(1) A person who, with the intention of inducing another person to enter into an engagement to provide sexual services, deceives that other person about:

(a) the fact that the engagement will involve the provision of sexual services; or

(aa) the nature of sexual services to be provided (for example, whether those services will require the person to have unprotected sex); or

(b) the extent to which the person will be free to leave the place or area where the person provides sexual services; or

(c) the extent to which the person will be free to cease providing sexual services; or

(d) the extent to which the person will be free to leave his or her place of residence; or

(da) if there is or will be a debt owed or claimed to be owed by the person in connection with the engagement—the quantum, or the existence, of the debt owed or claimed to be owed; or

(e) the fact that the engagement will involve exploitation, debt bondage or the confiscation of the person’s travel or identity documents;

is guilty of an offence.

Penalty:

(a) in the case of an aggravated offence (see section 270.8)—imprisonment for 9 years; or

(b) in any other case—imprisonment for 7 years.

(1A) In determining, for the purposes of any proceedings for an offence against subsection (1), whether a person has been deceived about any matter referred to in a paragraph of that subsection, a court, or if the trial is before a jury, the jury, may have regard to any of the following matters:

(a) the economic relationship between the person and the alleged offender;

(b) the terms of any written or oral contract or agreement between the person and the alleged offender;

(c) the personal circumstances of the person, including but not limited to:

(i) whether the person is entitled to be in Australia under the Migration Act 1958; and

(ii) the person’s ability to speak, write and understand English or the language in which the deception or inducement occurred; and

(iii) the extent of the person’s social and physical dependence on the alleged offender.

(1B) Subsection (1A) does not:

(a) prevent the leading of any other evidence in proceedings for an offence against subsection (1); or

(b) limit the manner in which evidence may be adduced or the admissibility of evidence.

(2) In this section:

deceive has the same meaning as in Division 271.

sexual service means the commercial use or display of the body of the person providing the service for the sexual gratification of others.

270.8 Aggravated offences

(1) For the purposes of this Division, an offence against section 270.6 or 270.7 is an aggravated offence if the offence was committed against a person who is under 18.

(2) If the prosecution intends to prove an aggravated offence, the charge must allege that the offence was committed against a person under that age.

(3) In order to prove an aggravated offence, the prosecution must prove that the defendant intended to commit, or was reckless as to committing, the offence against a person under that age.

270.9 Alternative verdict if aggravated offence not proven

If, on a trial for an aggravated offence against section 270.6 or 270.7, the jury is not satisfied that the defendant is guilty of an aggravated offence, but is otherwise satisfied that he or she is guilty of an offence against that section, it may find the defendant not guilty of the aggravated offence but guilty of an offence against that section.

270.12 Other laws not excluded

This Division is not intended to exclude or limit the operation of any other law of the Commonwealth or any law of a State or Territory.

270.13 Double jeopardy

If a person has been convicted or acquitted in a country outside Australia of an offence against the law of that country in respect of any conduct, the person cannot be convicted of an offence against this Division in respect of that conduct.

270.14 External Territories

In this Division:

Australia, when used in a geographical sense, includes the external Territories.