Forced-Marriage Threat Reporting Record

PROBLEM: Forced marriage is enforced by threats — including threats to kill. The UK offence of forced marriage (Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 s. 121) expressly covers using "violence, threats or any other form of coercion" to cause a person to enter a marriage without free and full consent, with a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment. But threats are usually spoken, not written, and victims rarely have a safe, confidential place to record them before the marriage happens. Without a record, a threat is one person's word against another's.

SOLUTION: A forced-marriage threat reporting record: every threat logged with date, exact words, witnesses and any saved messages, held confidentially and routable to the National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888), the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233), or police — so a death threat made to force a marriage is on the record before the wedding, not reconstructed after it.

EVIDENCE BASIS: DOCUMENTED — Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 s. 121 (violence, threats or coercion to cause marriage without free and full consent; max 7 years); hotline numbers per Tahirih Justice Center and USCIS public pages. Sources: legislation.gov.uk; preventforcedmarriage.org.