Short messages on UK Crime from Respect Yourself, the guidance site for young people to help make good decisions in life.
Any money lender – licensed or unlicensed – who harasses you is breaking the law. You should report any loan shark to the appropriate Illegal Money Lending team and contact the Police if you are in immediate danger.
Loan sharks will often start out being friendly – their behaviour only changes when repayments are missed. They offer little or no paperwork, increase the debt or add additional amounts, refuse to give the borrower vital information, such as the interest rate or how much they still owe, take items as security – for example, passports, bank cards or driving licence,s and often resort to intimidation, threats or violence.
It is illegal for people in a ‘position of trust’ over us to have sex with under-18s in their care. This includes teachers, carers and doctors, who we trust to look after us.
Loan sharks sometimes frighten people by saying they’ll be prosecuted and even sent to prison if they don’t pay up. This can’t happen – an unlicensed lender has no legal right to recover the debt.
A girl age 16 or over who has sex with a boy under 16 can be prosecuted for indecent assault (with a maximum sentence of 10 years).
Loan sharks are unlicensed moneylenders who charge very high interest rates and sometimes use threats and violence to frighten people who can’t pay back their loan.
Underage sex: if she is under 13 he could get life imprisonment – it is classed as “statutory rape”. There is no defence to this charge – even if a boy says the girl was willing or that he thought she was older than she was, it would not matter.
Underage sex: if she is 13-15, the boy could go to prison for two years even if she agrees. The law sees it as sexual assault – a criminal offence.
A criminal record is a history of any previous crime(s) you have been found guilty of – or have admitted to the police to carrying out. It’s held on a police database and is sometimes referred to as a ‘police record’.
In a car crash you are twice as likely to die if you don’t wear a seatbelt. Drivers with no seatbelt face on-the-spot fines of £60. If prosecuted, the maximum fine is £500.