Filming under clothes is officially a crime in England and Wales on Friday, where those who commit the crime face a two-year prison sentence and their names on the sex offenders register if convicted.
"We have always been clear, there is no justification for this behavior, and criminals should feel the full force of the law, and that will be done from today," British Justice Minister Lucy Fraser said in a statement.
Frazer thanked the activists for their work in ensuring "more people are protected from this degrading and humiliating practice" of taking a photograph of a person from under his clothes without his knowledge.
While the perpetrators of this behavior were prosecuted under the crime of public modesty, activists raised concerns that not all cases of filming could be deal with under clothing.
According to the statement, the new Vureizm Akt Act criminalizes this practice when it is intended to satisfy sexual desire or to cause humiliation, distress or panic.
This also includes cases in which perpetrators say they took pictures "as a joke".
According to police figures obtained by the Press Association, released on Friday, people between the ages of seven and 70 years were victims of the practice last year.
Figures showed that the number of shooting incidents under clothing jumped from 78 between April 2015 and April 2017, to 94 in 2018 as a whole.
