The UK government tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill on Friday that would automatically bar child rapists from making any decisions about their own children’s lives following sentencing. The government stated that the amendment is “to make sure the best interests of children are protected.”

The amendment removes the perpetrator’s parental responsibilities and ability to make key decisions in their children’s lives such as whether they can access therapy, go on holiday or change schools. This would change the current law that gives courts the ability to strip parental responsibility, but requires families of perpetrators to fund expensive proceedings to get such an order. Under this new amendment, if a perpetrator would like parental responsibility reinstated, they must prove to a family court judge that this is in the child’s best interest.

Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, Alex Chalk KC, expressed his support for the bill and highlighted its importance in protecting children. He stated that “This new law will ensure they are automatically safeguarded against those whose despicable actions have shown them to utterly lack any nurturing and caring instincts.”

These changes build upon Jade’s Law, which suspends parental responsibility automatically in cases where a perpetrator has killed a partner or ex-partner who they share children with. The law was named after Jade Ward, whose family campaigned for this legal change after she was murdered by her partner in 2021 and the perpetrator was able retain parental responsibility for their four children.

The amended Criminal Justice Bill would be subject to review in three years time “to ensure it is working for victims and innocent parties” and review how its powers could be changed.