On 28th March, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice Sam Gymiah MP answered a Parliamentary Question about proceedings in the Magistrates Courts in England and Wales and convictions in all courts in England and Wales under s1, Protection of Children Act (child abuse images), s2, Obscene Publication Act, 1959 (er, obscene publications), s63 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act, 2008 (extreme pornography), and s62 Coroners and Justice Act, 2009 (prohibited images).
The police are now saying they are arresting around 3,000 people per year for child abuse images related offences – record numbers – and this seems to be borne out by the 2015 figures in respect of proceedings brought in the Magistrates’ Courts (2374). The number of convictions obtained that year in all courts lags behind (1994) but that is to be expected. 2016’s numbers will start to show the bulge.
The table also underlines that the Obscene Publications Act is pretty much a dead letter. No new proceedings initiated in 2015 and only two convictions arising from proceedings started earlier.
The scale of activity in relation to extreme pornography seems low. Hard to judge exactly what this means but given the Age Verification Regulator has a power to act in relation to such material under the Digital Economy Bill we may get some further insights when they begin to report on how they are implementing what will then be an Act.
Desiderata 