Revised punishments for homosexual acts.
3.—(1) The maximum punishment which may be imposed on conviction on indictment of a man for buggery with another man of or over the age of sixteen shall, instead of being imprisonment for life as prescribed by paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the Act of 1956, be—
(a) imprisonment for a term of ten years except where the other man consented thereto; and
(b) in the said excepted case, imprisonment for a term of five years if the accused is of or over the age of twenty-one and the other man is under that age, but otherwise two years;
and the maximum punishment prescribed by that paragraph for an attempt to commit buggery with another man (ten years) shall not apply where that other man is of or over the age of sixteen.
(2) The maximum punishment which may be imposed on conviction on indictment of a man of or over the age of twenty–one of committing an act of gross indecency with another man under that age or of being a party to or procuring or attempting to procure the commission by a man under that age of such an act with another man shall, instead of being imprisonment for a term of two years as prescribed by paragraph 16 of the said Schedule 2, be imprisonment for a term of five years.
(3) References in this section to a person's age, in relation to any offence, are references to his age at the time of the commission of the offence.
(4) Accordingly the said Schedule 2 shall be amended as follows:—
(a) in paragraph 3(a) for the word "Life" there shall be substituted the words "If with a boy under the age of sixteen or with a woman or an animal, life; otherwise the relevant punishment prescribed by section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 ";
(b) in paragraph 3(b) for the words "Ten years" there shall be substituted the words "If with a boy under the age of sixteen or with a woman or an animal, ten years ";
(c) in paragraph 16(c) for the words "Two years" there shall be substituted the words "If by a man of or over the age of twenty-one with a man under that age, five years; otherwise two years ";
(d) in paragraph 16(b) for the words "Two years" there shall be substituted the words "If the attempt is by a man of or over the age of twenty-one to procure a man under that age to commit an act of gross indecency with another man, five years; otherwise two years ".
