[1][2][3][4] Advocacy group We Can't Consent To This has identified, between 1972 and 2020, 60 police suspects or defendants in the UK who have stated from the outset or later plead this defense, 45 percent of which resulted in a lesser charge, lighter sentence, acquittal, or the case not being pursued.
[2] In 2014, Denzil Wells II from Toledo, Ohio, pled guilty to reckless homicide and obstructing justice after his girlfriend died in what he claimed was an erotic asphyxiation-related accident, but avoided murder charges.
"[15] Advocacy group We Can't Consent to This has noted 60 police suspects or defendants in the UK having used the defense from 1972 to 2020, and 45 percent of these resulted in a lesser charge, lighter sentence, acquittal, or the case not being pursued.
[12][16] Some campaigners, such as We Can't Consent to This[13] and Toni Van Pelt of the National Organization for Women,[16] consider the defense a form of victim blaming and advocate for it to be banned.
Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom, said "I agree with Harriet Harman that the '50 Shades defence' is unacceptable and we'll make sure the law is clear on this.