Public Art

It’s not an offence to be naked in public in England and Wales but it does become an offence if it can be proved the person stripped off with the intention to upset and shock. The complainant has to prove this. In Scottish law there is no statutory offence, just the common law offence of offending public decency – a strand of the breach of the peace. The test is essentially the same as in English law, that a member of the public has been put in a state of fear or alarm. According to the Crown Prosecution Service “a balance needs to be struck between the naturist’s right to freedom of expression and the right of the wider public to be protected from harassment, alarm and distress”.