Another law that will not be actively enforced

One part of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act of 2008 came into force on 26 January. It relates to the "Possession of extreme pornographic images" and the Act defines this thus:

"(1) It is an offence for a person to be in possession of an extreme pornographic image.

(2) An “extreme pornographic image” is an image which is both—

(a) pornographic, and

(b) an extreme image.

(3) An image is “pornographic” if it is of such a nature that it must reasonably be assumed to have been produced solely or principally for the purpose of sexual arousal.

(4) Where (as found in the person’s possession) an image forms part of a series of images, the question whether the image is of such a nature as is mentioned in subsection (3) is to be determined by reference to—

(a) the image itself, and

(b) (if the series of images is such as to be capable of providing a context for the image) the context in which it occurs in the series of images.

(5) So, for example, where—

(a) an image forms an integral part of a narrative constituted by a series of images, and

(b) having regard to those images as a whole, they are not of such a nature that they must reasonably be assumed to have been produced solely or principally for the purpose of sexual arousal,

the image may, by virtue of being part of that narrative, be found not to be pornographic, even though it might have been found to be pornographic if taken by itself.

(6) An “extreme image” is an image which—

(a) falls within subsection (7), and

(b) is grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character.

(7) An image falls within this subsection if it portrays, in an explicit and realistic way, any of the following—

(a) an act which threatens a person’s life,

(b) an act which results, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person’s anus, breasts or genitals,

(c) an act which involves sexual interference with a human corpse, or

(d) a person performing an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive),

and a reasonable person looking at the image would think that any such person or animal was real.

(8) In this section “image” means—

(a) a moving or still image (produced by any means); or

(b) data (stored by any means) which is capable of conversion into an image within paragraph (a).

(9) In this section references to a part of the body include references to a part surgically constructed (in particular through gender reassignment surgery).

(10) Proceedings for an offence under this section may not be instituted—

(a) in England and Wales, except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions; or

(b) in Northern Ireland, except by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland. "

What amuses me is that The Guardian reports that:

"Officers will not actively target members of the public to track down those who own violent pornography banned under a new law, police chiefs admitted yesterday.

...

But yesterday the justice ministry said it expected to see a only small number of prosecutions a year under the new law, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail and makes it illegal to own pornographic material that depicts necrophilia, bestiality or violence that looks life-threatening or is likely to result in serious injury to the breasts, genitals or anus.

Responsibility for implementing the ban will lie with individual police forces, which will receive no extra funding and will not be expected to devote resources to speculative hunts for people viewing extreme pornography.

...

A statement from the Association of Chief Police Officers said: "The police will not be actively targeting members of the public but will be conducting investigations into the unlawful possession of this material where found."

The justice ministry expects to see about 30 prosecutions a year. It estimates that 10 offenders will be jailed, for an average of six months. "

Extreme porn does not interest me but I will admit that I have seen images on the web that I have found disturbing. I did not save them to my hard disk but if I had not cleaned my computer cache would I be breaking the law?

Another interesting fact is that it is now illegal for anyone in England and Wales to possess an "extreme" image, even if the activity itself is legal. The assurances that the Police will not be actively looking to enforce this legislation does not reassure me; they might not be now but who knows what a future even more repressive government might do with such legislation or how they might extended it. Once again the fundamentally illiberal tendencies of this Labour government are revealed and another restriction is available to the Government and its Police Force, to be enforced as and when it might be useful.