Child pornography
Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...
laws in
England and Wales
England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...
are covered by the
Protection of Children Act 1978
The Protection of Children Act 1978 (c. 37) 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 Go ...
("the 1978 Act"), which made it illegal to take, make, distribute, show, or possess for the intent of showing or distributing an indecent photograph of someone under the age of 16. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison. In the context of digital media, saving an indecent image to a computer's hard drive is considered to be "making" the image, as it causes a copy to exist which did not exist before. Indecency is to be interpreted by a jury, who should apply the recognised standards of propriety.
The prohibition of content on the Internet that is potentially illegal under this law by British
internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...
s is however self-regulatory, coordinated by the non-profit charity
Internet Watch Foundation
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is a registered charity based in Cambridge, England. It states that its remit is "to minimise the availability of online sexual abuse content, specifically child sexual abuse images and videos hosted anywhe ...
.
The 1978 Act was extended in 1994 (by the
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It introduced a number of changes to the law, most notably in the restriction and reduction of existing rights, clamping down on unlicensed ...
), to cover "
pseudo-photographs" – images that appear to be photographs.
The
Sexual Offences Act 2003
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (c. 42) is an Act of the Parliament (for England and Wales).
It partly replaced the Sexual Offences Act 1956 with more specific and explicit wording. It also created several new offences such as non-consensual voyeu ...
amended the general age of subjects under the act from 16 to 18 (although added in exemptions in law for which images of a person above the
age of consent
The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to Human sexual activity, sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is un ...
(16) were to remain lawful, provided that the images in question were kept private and between two parties in a legal relationship).
In 2008, the Act was further extended (by the
Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (c. 4) 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 N ...
) to cover tracings, and other works derived from photographs or pseudo-photographs. In 2009,
cartoon sexual images depicting minors, not just those that were derived from photographs or pseudo-photographs, were criminalised by the
Coroners and Justice Act 2009
The Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (c. 25) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the law on coroners and criminal justice in England and Wales.
Among its provisions are:
*Preventing criminals from profiting from public ...
, under which any possession of images also became a criminal offence (whereas before it was legal to possess hard copies of images so long as there was no intention to show or distribute them to others).
Similar legal provisions exist in
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
but the 1978 Act does not extend to there.
See also
*
Legality of child pornography
Child pornography is illegal in most countries (187 out of 195 countries are illegal), but there is substantial variation in definitions, categories, penalties, and interpretations of laws. Differences include the definition of "child" under ...
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Child pornography laws in the Netherlands
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Child pornography laws in Portugal
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Child pornography laws in the United States
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 s ...
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Child pornography laws in Australia
The Australian law prohibits all sexual depictions of children under an age set by state and territory legislation. The relevant ages are under 16 in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, under 17 in ...
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Child pornography laws in Canada
In Canada, child pornography is illegal undeSection 163.1of the Criminal Code and is punishable by up to ten or fourteen years of imprisonment depending on the offence. The Supreme Court of Canada has found child pornography, including the simple ...
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Child pornography laws in Japan
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Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP)
References
{{Pornography legality, state=collapsed
Child pornography law
Law of the United Kingdom
Childhood in the United Kingdom