Dr Amy Burrell explains what the proposed changes to the law mean for spiking offences.
“I’m delighted to hear the news about the law change. Although spiking is covered by existing legislation, it can be captured under different offence types – such as assault or maliciously administering a poison – making it difficult to extract data that relates to spiking offences from within police databases. This – combined with underreporting – makes measuring and monitoring the prevalence of spiking particularly challenging. The new law will not only help the police to identify spiking more easily in their data but also send the message to victims that spiking is taken seriously and thus encourage more reporting.
Spiking is commonly associated with putting something in someone’s drink but people can also be spiked through food, cigarettes and vapes, or needles. Being spiked can be terrifying, not only because of the effects of drugs on people’s bodies but also because the spiking can be accompanied by other offences including robbery and sexual violence. Spiking has been an issue for a long time and can impact people of all ages and can happen in lots of different spaces including bars and clubs but also house parties, festivals, or even your own home.
Spiking can be done maliciously but also by people who love you and buy you a double when you want a single or people who think they are having a laugh. So, people can be spiked by strangers or violent partners but also by friends or acquaintances. Awareness of the dangers of spiking is rising and campaigners have been working hard with media partners to ensure spiking is portrayed appropriately to the public. A new spiking storyline addressed in an Eastenders mini-series beginning this week is just one way that spiking can be brought to public attention and start a dialogue about this offence and what can be done.”
Research Fellow
Dr Amy Burrell works on multiple research projects at the University of Birmingham, predominantly focused on topics such as sexual violence, behavioural crime linkage, and policing.
