{"id":30939,"date":"2026-06-25T07:26:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=30939"},"modified":"2026-06-25T07:26:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:26:59","slug":"jail-time-and-unlimited-fines-planned-under-conversion-practices-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2026\/06\/25\/jail-time-and-unlimited-fines-planned-under-conversion-practices-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"Jail time and unlimited fines planned under conversion practices ban"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Those who carry out conversion practices – commonly known as “conversion therapy” – could be jailed for up to five years under landmark new plans.<\/b><\/p>\n

The draft Conversion Practices Bill, which criminalises “abusive acts” aiming to change someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity, is expected to be laid before Parliament later today.<\/p>\n

The Cabinet Office said the Bill will ensure LGBT+ people are “protected from physical and psychological abuse to change who they are”.<\/p>\n

Some groups have raised concerns such laws could criminalise exploratory conversations around gender identity or sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

The government says it is proposing to legislate because existing domestic abuse or coercive control laws do not address “the unique nature of abusive conversion practices”.<\/p>\n

The plans – which apply to England and Wales – will, for the first time, set a legal definition of conversion practices as conduct which “aims to change someone’s sexual orientation or transgender identity through abusive acts that seriously harm the victim”.<\/p>\n

Minister for Equalities Olivia Bailey said: “Conversion practices are driven by the false belief that being LGBT+ is shameful and can be forcibly changed.<\/p>\n

“Legal loopholes have left LGBT+ people vulnerable to these harmful acts, which is why we must legislate.”<\/p>\n

Two new criminal offences will be created under the plans: one for carrying out conversion practices “which cause serious harm, alarm or distress”, and another for encouraging or assisting such practices to take place outside of England and Wales.<\/p>\n

Proposals also include new civil powers known as Conversion Practice Protection Orders, which they say will “pre-emptively protect those deemed to be at risk of abuse”.<\/p>\n

Those found guilty of conducting abusive conversion practices could face both an unlimited fine and prison sentences of up to five years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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How prevalent are conversion practices?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It’s difficult to know exactly how widespread conversion practices are.<\/p>\n

About 5% of the 108,000 people who responded to the government’s UK-wide LGBT Survey in 2018 said they had been offered some form of conversion therapy, while 2% had undergone it.<\/p>\n

But the survey did not define what it meant by conversion therapy, and did not ask when or where it had happened.<\/p>\n

Galop, an anti-LGBT abuse charity which has campaigned in favour of a ban, has today released new figures and says between 2022 and 2025 it identified more than 300 calls about conversion practices.<\/p>\n

Researchers analysed a sample of 195 of those calls and found reported examples of physical and sexual violence, attempts at forced marriages and people being forcibly taken abroad to undergo conversion practices.<\/p>\n

The majority of cases (132) were reported as ongoing or recent, and more than half (123) were reported as being initiated by parents.<\/p>\n

Many cases involved more than one type of reported conversion practice, with Galop finding:<\/p>\n

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