Loud sex: A jailable offense?

last updated 10 January 2015

A British woman who received several citations for having sex too loud was spared jail time — for now. But Judge Beatrice Bolton gave the woman, Caroline Cartwright, an eight-week suspended sentence, and vowed to throw her behind bars if she disturbs neighbors again. Cartwright had invoked the U.K.'s Human Rights Act, saying she had a right to "respect for her private and family life." But Bolton said a recording proved that Cartwright and her husband, Steve, made no effort to comply with an order to curb their noisy lovemaking. "It needs to be a prison sentence because you need to be deterred," Bolton said. Is jail time excessive punishment for noisy sex?

Something must be done to make Cartwright quiet: Loud sex is one thing, says Lester Haines in Britain's The Register. But we're talking about "unnaturally loud" sex that was making the lives of Steve and Caroline Cartwright's neighbors miserable. "The noise sounds like they are both in considerable pain," said next-door neighbor Rachel O'Connor. Cartwright violated a court order, so she has to accept whatever punishment the judge metes out.

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Locking Cartwright up is excessive: Yes, Caroline Cartwright is guilty of noisy sex, but "the sentence does look a bit too harsh," says the blog Simply Jews via Jewish Press International. It's "nobody's business what the lady does in the confines of her home." But it's clear that the Cartwrights are "surrounded by nosy perverts," so their only recourse now is to move to a friendlier neighborhood, or soundproof their bedroom.

Cartright wasn't even being that loud: Caroline Cartwright could have received five years in prison, in theory, for her violations of a U.K. "anti-social behavior order" or ASBO, says CarnalNation.com. This order "basically allows people to be punished for things that aren't actually illegal," which is why we're even talking about jail time for noisy sex. The really strange thing is that the local government put sound equipment at a neighbor's apartment and the Cartwrights registered at a maximum of 47 decibels -- below the level of normal conversation, so it "isn't actually that loud."