Related Research Articles
The Protection of Children Act 1978 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that criminalized indecent photographs of children. The act applies in England and Wales. Similar provision for Scotland is contained in the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and for Northern Ireland in the Protection of Children Order 1978.
In R v Bowden, a 1999 appeal, the English Court of Appeal dismissed a defence effort to depart from the literal rule, the taking of the natural meaning of statutory language. It concerned the making of an indecent photograph of a child. It confirmed it was irrelevant as to whether the offence was committed that these actions were part of a much larger production and distribution effort. That would likely be a relevant consideration at the time of sentencing if the jury found the facts established guilt.
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Sexual Offences Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and former British colonies and territories such as Antigua and Barbuda, Crown dependencies, Kenya, Lesotho, Republic of Ireland, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago relating to sexual offences.
Definitions and restrictions on pornography vary across jurisdictions. The production, distribution, and possession of pornographic films, photographs, and similar material are activities that are legal in many but not all countries, providing that any specific people featured in the material have consented to being included and are above a certain age. Various other restrictions often apply as well. The minimum age requirement for performers is most typically 18 years.
In criminal law, the term offence against the person or crime against the person usually refers to a crime which is committed by direct physical harm or force being applied to another person.
The law of Northern Ireland is the legal system of statute and common law operating in Northern Ireland since the partition of Ireland established Northern Ireland as a distinct jurisdiction in 1921. Before 1921, Northern Ireland was part of the same legal system as the rest of Ireland.
Internet censorship in the United Kingdom is conducted under a variety of laws, judicial processes, administrative regulations and voluntary arrangements. It is achieved by blocking access to sites as well as the use of laws that criminalise publication or possession of certain types of material. These include English defamation law, the Copyright law of the United Kingdom, regulations against incitement to terrorism and child pornography.
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which makes significant changes in many areas of the criminal justice system in England and Wales and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In particular, it changes the law relating to custodial sentences and the early release of prisoners to reduce prison overcrowding, which reached crisis levels in 2008. It also reduces the right of prison officers to take industrial action, and changed the law on the deportation of foreign criminals. It received royal assent on 8 May 2008, but most of its provisions came into force on various later dates. Many sections came into force on 14 July 2008.
Legal frameworks around fictional pornography depicting minors vary depending on country and nature of the material involved. Laws against production, distribution, and consumption of child pornography generally separate images into three categories: real, pseudo, and virtual. Pseudo-photographic child pornography is produced by digitally manipulating non-sexual images of real minors to make pornographic material. Virtual child pornography depicts purely fictional characters. "Fictional pornography depicting minors," as covered in this article, includes these latter two categories, whose legalities vary by jurisdiction, and often differ with each other and with the legality of real child pornography.
An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin obscēnus, obscaenus, "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral repugnance and outrage in expressions such as "obscene profits" and "the obscenity of war". As a legal term, it usually refers to descriptions and depictions of people engaged in sexual and excretory activity.
In the United States, child pornography is illegal under federal law and in all states and is punishable by up to life imprisonment and fines of up to $250,000. U.S. laws regarding child pornography are virtually always enforced and amongst the sternest in the world. The Supreme Court of the United States has found child pornography to be outside the protections of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Federal sentencing guidelines on child pornography differentiate between production, distribution, and purchasing/receiving, and also include variations in severity based on the age of the child involved in the materials, with significant increases in penalties when the offense involves a prepubescent child or a child under the age of 18. U.S. law distinguishes between pornographic images of an actual minor, realistic images that are not of an actual minor, and non-realistic images such as drawings. The latter two categories are legally protected unless found to be obscene, whereas the first does not require a finding of obscenity.
Simulated child pornography is child pornography depicting what appear to be minors but which is produced without their direct involvement.
There are a number of sexual offences under the law of England and Wales, the law of Scotland, and the law of Northern Ireland.
Child pornography is illegal in most countries, but there is substantial variation in definitions, categories, penalties, and interpretations of laws. Differences include the definition of "child" under the laws, which can vary with the age of sexual consent; the definition of "child pornography" itself, for example on the basis of medium or degree of reality; and which actions are criminal. Laws surrounding fictional child pornography are a major source of variation between jurisdictions; some maintain distinctions in legality between real and fictive pornography depicting minors, while others regulate fictive material under general laws against child pornography.
Child pornography is erotic material that depicts persons under the designated age of majority. The precise characteristics of what constitutes child pornography varies by criminal jurisdiction.
R v. Fellows; R v. Arnold [1997] 1 Cr App R 244; [1997] 2 All E.R. 548, is a prominent English case on the statutory interpretation of section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978, and the Obscene Publications Act 1959, the definitions have since been amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The Court of Appeal held that data on a computer that represents the original photograph is a copy of a photograph under the 1978 Act, therefore, downloading an indecent photograph from the internet constitutes making a copy or reproduction of an indecent photograph.
Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, with the punitive intention to create public humiliation or character assassination out of revenge against the victim. The material may have been made by an ex-partner from an intimate relationship with the knowledge and consent of the subject at the time, or it may have been made without their knowledge. The subject may have experienced sexual violence during the recording of the material, in some cases facilitated by psychoactive chemicals such as date rape drugs which also cause a reduced sense of pain and involvement in the sexual act, dissociative effects and amnesia.
There are a number of sexual offences under the law of Scotland.
There are a number of sexual offences under the law of Northern Ireland.
References
- ↑ "Photographs and Pseudo-photographs". Crown Prosecution Service . Retrieved April 9, 2021.
- ↑ IWF.org.uk Archived 2008-09-29 at the Wayback Machine , Internet Watch Foundation - R v Bowden
- ↑ "Indecent images of children: guidance for young people". GOV.UK. March 2023. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
- ↑ "Criminal Justice and Public Order Act: Section 84", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 3 February 1995, 1994 c. 33 (s. 84), retrieved 4 December 2024
- ↑ "Sexual Offences Act: Section 45", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 1 May 2004, 2003 c. 42 (s. 45), retrieved 4 December 2024
- ↑ "Criminal Justice and Immigration Act: Section 69", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 8 July 2008, 2008 c. 4 (s. 69), retrieved 4 December 2024
- ↑ "Coroners and Justice Act: Section 62", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 6 April 2010, 2009 c. 25 (s. 62), retrieved 4 December 2024
- ↑ "Protection of Children Act: Section 9", legislation.gov.uk , The National Archives, 1 April 2008, 1978 c. 37 (s. 9), retrieved 4 December 2024