CW: This article contains details of spiking and references to sexual violence
Maya Szaniecki
A new campaign has recently been launched to make spiking a standalone criminal offence in the UK. These efforts are being headed by The Egalitarian – a campaign group comprised of current and recent university students.
As part of the campaign, The Egalitarian is compiling The Spike Report – the UK’s first spiking database where victims can log details of spiking incidents – reaching over 350 responses nationwide.
WHAT IS SPIKING?
Spiking is defined as putting “alcohol or drugs into another person’s drink or body without their knowledge or consent.”
This includes putting drugs into someone’s food, injecting it into their body or giving someone drugs but lying about the substance or amount, amongst other things.
“We want to push for the word ‘spiking’ to be in the law because that’s a word that everybody knows.”
Symptoms from spiking can vary greatly, but the drugs commonly used are known for making people lose control of their bodies or minds, feel physically weak, or pass out – all of which facilitate further violence against victims.
According to a 2022 YouGov survey of the British public, 1 in 10 women have had their drinks spiked, while five per cent of men have also said they have.
Despite these high rates, less than 50 per cent of people believe the police would believe them if they reported a drink-spiking incident.
A MODERN LAW FOR MODERN TIMES
Spiking is already a crime and can be prosecuted under several offences in the UK, namely the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and the Person Act 1861.
Yet, these Acts could be considered ambiguous for the modern-day spiking epidemic, which is not covered under any single offence.
Erin Virtue, Campaigns and Outreach for The Egalitarian, pointed out the outdated language of the Person Act 1861, which applies to spiking.
She told Empoword: “The legislation refers to things like ‘poison,’ or ‘intent to annoy,’ which isn’t clear.”
“We want to push for the word ‘spiking’ to be in the law because that’s a word that everybody knows,” she said.
The Egalitarian’s Campaign Lead, Leesh Daniells, added that this “ambiguity also applies to police officers in terms of responding to or charging a perpetrator. It’s not clear how you would convict someone or what they should be charged with.”
According to Virtue and Daniells, a change in legislation could empower victims and help them recognise when they have been spiked whilst also providing clearer police guidance around prosecutions.
“The hope for The Egalitarian is that a similar law change regarding spiking…would also encourage more people to report it.”
An example of a similar law change is when upskirting – the act of taking photographs under someone’s clothes without their permission – became a specific criminal offence in the UK under the Voyeurism Act 2019.
The number of prosecutions for upskirting more than doubled in the two years following the legislation coming into force.
The Egalitarian hopes that a similar law change regarding spiking, acknowledging the act as a crime in and of itself, would also encourage more people to report it.
CONCRETE AND SYMBOLIC CHANGE
At the moment, official advice from the UK Police on spiking still includes “Never leave your drink unattended” and “Be wary if people are reaching over your drinks.”
Although these tips are intended to be useful, they suggest that victims, rather than perpetrators, need to change their actions.
24-year-old Chloe Butler, who was spiked in a bar last year, said she has been impacted by this societal tendency to victim-blame. What started as a fun night out in Leeds with her friend, Ella Murphy, turned into a nightmare when Chloe started to feel unwell.
“We went outside, and I pretty much just threw up and collapsed,” Butler told Empoword.
“I don’t remember anything else until about four o’clock in the morning, when I woke up in Ella’s flat with paramedics around me and my hand in a bowl of my own sick.”
Butler and Murphy were driven home by two police officers, but Murphy found that they were reluctant to give her any further assistance in looking after her friend.
Murphy told Empoword: “I asked for their advice, but they kept saying she had too much to drink. But she’d completely lost all control; she was throwing up; it was not because of how much we had to drink.
“But they just wouldn’t listen at all,” she said.
Butler explained that she rarely drinks nowadays because “no one can accuse you of being too drunk and getting yourself into that state if they know you’ve only had one drink.”
“It’s important for spiking to be recognised wholly and individually in the law so that the government cares and takes action.”
Yet the ease with which she was spiked stands out the most.
She told Empoword: “I didn’t leave my drink out of view. No one interacted with it. Had it been a situation where they wanted to target me for some kind of further violence, I would have had no idea until it was too late…how can you feel safe on a night out when you’ve had that much control taken away from you?”
For The Egalitarian, this is precisely why a change is needed.
Virtue told Empoword: “We think there is a gap in the law. It’s important for spiking to be recognised wholly and individually in the law so that the government cares and takes action.”
READ NEXT:
-
FRANCE TO DEBATE THE INTRODUCTION OF MEDICALLY ASSISTED DEATH
-
BRITISH SATISFACTION WITH THE NHS HITS AN ALL-TIME LOW
-
DR MICHAEL MOSLEY FOUND DEAD ON GREEK ISLAND
Featured image courtesy of Kelsey Chance on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license can be found here.
