The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 and Sexual Assault on Minors According to a "survey of The Times criminal trials and police columns between January 1884 and September 1886 indicates that the reporting of criminal assaults, indecent assaults, and rapes enacted against minors increased dramatically after the publicity of "The Maiden Tribute" and the passage of the Criminal Law Amendment Act. Where only five sexual offences against minors were reported between January 1884 and the end of July 1885, The Times lists sixty-five cases between August 1885 and September 1886. In the space of nine months after the passage of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, twelve times as many cases were reported as in the previous year and a half."
