Hatfield police celebrate first conviction for extreme porn under new laws

By Hazel | Published: August 31, 2010

Following an investigation by PC Ross Freeman and Hatfield neighbourhood Sergeant Malcolm Dey, along with the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) and BPI (British Recorded Music Industry), Glen Smith, 38, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail after pleading guilty to 22 charges of selling counterfeit CDs and DVDs and possession of extreme pornography on Friday, August 20 2010.

Sergeant Dey said: “We are the first officers in the county to make use of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 – possession of extreme pornographic images – and it was only possible by the fantastic support from FACT and BPI”.

To read more, click on the link to the article below.

http://www.stalbansreview.co.uk/news/8348408.Hatfield_police_celebrate_first_conviction_for_extreme_porn_under_new_laws/

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Lord Andrew Mcintosh loses his fight with cancer

By Hazel | Published: August 31, 2010

Baron Mcintosh died on Friday 27th 2010.

A committed humanist who opposed to interference in the private lives of adults as long as what they do did not cause harm to anyone else, he spoke up in the House of Lords debate on the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act.

“This part of Part 5 introduces new definitions of obscene or extreme pornography, which cloud the agreement that generally has been reached in this country about what is obscene and what should be allowed. That is extraordinarily unfortunate. It is damaging to the interpretation of the law; to the confidence of people that the law understands the variety of emotions and feelings that there are about sexual matters; and to the reputation of the law itself.”

Lord Mcintosh of Haringey 21.04.2008

Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association, of which Lord Mcintosh was Treasurer, said, ‘Andrew was well respected for his commitment to equality, rationalism and Humanism. He was the Minister responsible for the inclusion of Humanism as a ‘belief’ in the Communications Act 2003, since when public service broadcasters have been obliged by law to include coverage of Humanism.’

‘Andrew was particularly interested in education, being actively involved over many years in British education legislation and, as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, he supported a motion condemning the teaching of creationism in schools as a part of science. Andrew, with his passion for promoting humanist perspectives on issues such as education and his support for the All Party Humanist Group in Parliament will be sorely missed.’

Our condolences go to his family and friends.

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‘Extreme concern’ – new academic critique of extreme porn law

By Nick | Published: August 26, 2010

Feona Attwood and Clarissa Smith provide a measured critique of the ban on extreme pornography in a recent article for the Journal of Law and Society (currently available without library subscription). They analyse the rhetorical devices used to generate public anxiety about viewers of extreme material. They also show how the poor evidence of the ‘effects’ case for prohibiting extreme images still managed to generate a successful call for legislation.

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Dentist pleads guilty to ‘pain porn’

By Nick | Published: August 26, 2010

A man in Dorset has pled guilty to possessing several extreme images and videos of acts that, so far as we are aware, were exclusively conducted by consenting adults. It is far from clear that the images satisfied the real definition of extreme pornography (merely painful activites are not covered and images must be produced for the purpose of sexual arousal).

As in previous cases that involve extreme porn charges exclusively, it appears the man is considered to be of otherwise good character, to have conducted himself well in the community (even devoting time to charity), and to have a successful career. It seems unfortunate that such an individual has been punished for his alternative sexual interests. Indeed, it appears he downloaded some of these images in order to educate himself about participating in some of these (often perfectly legal) activities, which in any other circumstances would be considered a sensible course of action.

Jane Fae has more on the implications of this and other cases. It is worth remembering that Backlash can put individuals charged with possession of extreme pornography in contact with expert legal advice and has contributed to having a poorly founded charge dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service in recent weeks. However, any advice or support is likely to be more effective at the outset of a criminal investigation and court case.

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Extreme porn charge dropped due to Backlash intervention

By Nick | Published: August 9, 2010

A poorly founded extreme porn charge, tenaciously pursued for many months by the Crown Prosecution Service, was dropped last week. The man was able to contact Backlash who put him in contact with expert legal advice on how to deal with the charge. He was able to vacate his guilty plea, which he had previously been mistakenly advised to plead in court. The CPS, though apparently willing to continue the case, refused to offer evidence at his trial at the last minute.

Jane Fae has more.

It is worth noting that the definitions of ‘extreme porn’ and of possession under section 63 are complex and contestable. Images must be realistic, pornographic (designed to arouse), grossly offensive AND contain specific prohibited content. In this case, a key defence might have been whether the image was designed to be pornographic or (instead) produced for shock value (essentially a sick joke). It should not be assumed that because an image is disgusting and offensive, that it is pornographic under the law. Even a decision by the CPS to press charges does not indicate that the images concerned necessarily fulfill the definition of ‘extreme pornography’. Anyone charged under similar circumstances, especially where the purpose or content of the images are ambiguous, is advised to contact Backlash.

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‘Extreme porn’ found on phone

By Nick | Published: August 1, 2010

A Sunderland man has admitted possession of a short video clip of male genital mutilation on his mobile phone. He was warned that he could have faced a jail sentence had he forwarded the image along to anyone else. The clip was sent to him by a friend. This is another case of an individual not having a single previous conviction nor apparently posing any threat to the public. He did not even deliberately seek out the obscene image which apparently had been sent around his neighbourhood via mobile phone. Yet now he receives a criminal record (which could harm his employment or social prospects in the future) and a community penalty. It is unclear who benefits from the costs of prosecuting and punishing this man. This case also has nothing to do with the original intent of the legislation, which was to prevent harm to women.

From a legal perspective, a possible defence may have been missed. It seems highly unlikely that the defendant was possessing the video for his personal gratification (it had been sent to him as a kind of shock video rather than for sexual arousal). It is also possible that the image itself was produced for shock rather than for arousal (this would depend on the context of its production and trasmission as well as if there were any erotic elements within the video itself). ‘Extreme porn’ is not defined in law merely as a set of depicted acts; those acts must be depicted in a way designed to be pornographic, i.e. primarily for sexual arousal. It would be unfortunate if this possible defence was not pursued, as an otherwise law abiding citizen may have been spared a criminal record. It is difficult to establish whether this defence may have been appropriate from the newspaper report alone.

By contrast, other recent cases of extreme porn convictions (here, here and here) all seem superfluous as the defendants have all been charged with rather more serious illegal acts. This seems to underlie the fact that the ban on ‘extreme porn’ is unnecessary: it is a charge that can be tagged on to people already facing much more serious allegations (that should be where police concentrate their efforts), or a charge used to trip up unfortunate law abiding citizens who do not actually need to face criminal charges at all.

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Scottish Parliament passes “extreme porn” law

By Nick | Published: July 2, 2010

This week the Scottish Parliament passed its own version of the ban on “extreme porn” as part of the wide ranging Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill. “Extreme pornography” in Scotland includes a potentially much wider range of images, prohibiting possession of depictions of non-consensual sex besides the categories already present in English law. While rape itself is an abhorrent crime and personal violation, non-consensual sex is also a common erotic fantasy and fictional theme in some pornography, as well as other art and media. This makes the Scottish legislation potentially a far more serious infringement of people’s rights to sexual autonomy and free expression than the version already enacted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Jane Fae has more on the context in which this legislation has been brought in.

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Extreme porn charges against pensioner dropped

By Nick | Published: June 23, 2010

Jane Fae reports that a man facing charges of possessing extreme pornography has had the case against him dropped. The prosecution were unable to make the case that he intended to possess the images. Although Fae believes this spells greater ambiguity as to how the law can be prosecuted, I think there is a good case to say that the dropping of the charges in this instance emphasises that the CPS takes it that they must demonstrate capability to access the image. Possession in digital media is almost equivalent to ‘having control over’, which is not inconsistent with current case law.

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John Stagliano faces jail in the US

By Nick | Published: June 15, 2010

A surprisingly informative show on Fox (presented by the excellent John Stossel) interviews pornographer John Stagliano on charges of obscenity that he faces in court. Few places in the world have truly durable rights to sexual expression, including the US which has otherwise remarkable judicial protections on free speech.

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Doing the stats on unpopular law

By adrian | Published: June 13, 2010

The previous Government no doubt tabled the extreme pornography measures expecting wide popular approval. There was a recent court case that seemed to demonstrate its risks, and a fifty-thousand vote petition condemning violence against women and the pornography which ‘promoted’ it. A clear vote-winner, surely.

But from the outset, the online community didn’t agree. In every comments page, opinion has been against the law by a factor of roughly ten to one. This is irrespective of the stance of the article being commented on, and consistent back to the start of the Government’s proposals. These articles and comments date from the earlier stages of the measure’s becoming law.

Since enactment in January 2009, the fitness of the law has had no press coverage. But now with the announcement of the Great Repeal Bill the law is again indirectly the subject of media attention. Can we gauge public opinion now?

It seems that we can. On May 19th, the Guardian’s Comment Is Free page asked its readers “Which laws must be repealed in Clegg’s Great Reform Act?”. This resulted in 220 comments, the great majority following the brief and naming one or more laws for repeal. The extreme pornography law was named on its own in one comment, and another comment named it together with ‘The Digital Rights Act [and] the new law against visiting brothels’.

Site users can ‘recommend’ each comment and the number of recommendations is listed. This would seem to be a reasonable measure
of approval amongst the readers.

Comments received between zero and 168 recommendations, the average
number being 16. The comment specifically about extreme pornography had
100 comments and the one with the two other suggestions had 60, ranking
ninth and fifteenth respectively out of the 220 comments.

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  • Backlash is an umbrella organisation providing academic, legal and campaigning resources defending freedom of sexual expression. We support the rights of adults to participate in all consensual sexual activities and to watch, read and create any fictional interpretation of such in any media.