Abstract
This chapter takes the reader through the legislative history of the offence and provides an insight into the assumptions and interests underlying it. In particular, it provides a legal analysis of the high-profile case of the murder of Jane Longhurst by Graham Coutts which prompted the campaign to ban the possession of violent pornography. It then moves on to discuss the 2005 consultation process and the passage of the 2007 Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill.
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Notes
- 1.
R v Coutts [2005] EWCA Crim 52, [2] (Cresswell J).
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
Coutts (n 1) [2] (Cresswell J).
- 4.
Ibid [40] (Cresswell J).
- 5.
Ibid [94] (Cresswell J).
- 6.
Ibid [83] (Cresswell J).
- 7.
Ibid [84] (Cresswell J).
- 8.
R v Coutts [2006] UKHL 39, [27] (Lord Bingham of Cornhill).
- 9.
Ibid; the public interest in the administration of justice is best served, Lord Bingham of Cornhill stated, ‘if in any trial on indictment the trial judge leaves to the jury, subject to any appropriate caution or warning, but irrespective of the wishes of trial counsel, any obvious alternative offence which there is evidence to support’; Ibid [23]. Failure to leave such a lesser alternative verdict, which could reasonably have been come to on the evidence available, would constitute a ‘serious miscarriage of justice’ which an appellate court should quash as unsafe; Ibid [47], [61] (Lord Hutton).
- 10.
H Carter, ‘Teacher’s killer found guilty of sex murder on retrial’ The Guardian (London 5 July 2007) 7.
- 11.
S Morris, ‘Killer was obsessed by porn websites’ The Guardian (London 5 February 2004) 5.
- 12.
‘Victim’s mother in web porn plea’ BBC News (London 4 February 2004), http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3459755.stm, accessed 9 August 2013.
- 13.
Ibid.
- 14.
R Cowan, ‘I want to stop another murder’ The Guardian (16 September 2004) G2 10.
- 15.
See http://www.jltrust.org.uk/, accessed 19 November 2010.
- 16.
Cowan (n 15).
- 17.
‘Porn law hopes for Jane’s mother’ BBC News (London 15 August 2005), http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/4152498.stm, accessed 10 August 2013; ‘Crackdown due on violent web porn’ BBC News (London 15 August 2005), http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4151862.stm, accessed 10 August 2013.
- 18.
Press Association, ‘US and UK crack down on web porn’ The Guardian Online (London, 9 March 2004), http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/mar/09/usnews.internationalnews, accessed 09 August 2013.
- 19.
Labour MP for Reading West (where Liz Longhurst is a constituent).
- 20.
Labour MP for Brighton Pavilion.
- 21.
EDMs are formal written motions tabled in Parliament requesting a debate ‘at an early day’. Any MP may submit an EDM on any subject matter. However, very few are actually debated. They allow MPs to draw attention to an event/cause or express a view and request a debate. Other MPs may add their names in support by signing individual motions.
- 22.
EDM 583, ‘Murder of Jane Longhurst and Internet Sites Promoting Necrophilia’, tabled on 9 February 2004 (Session 2003–4).
- 23.
‘What Are Early Day Motions?’ (Parliament UK), http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/business/edms/, accessed 10 August 2013.
- 24.
HC Deb 18 May 2004, vol 421, col 169WH.
- 25.
Ibid col 172WH.
- 26.
Ibid col 171WH.
- 27.
Labour MP for Amber Valley.
- 28.
HC Deb 18 May 2004, vol 421, col 183WH.
- 29.
Ibid col 173WH.
- 30.
Ibid col 174WH.
- 31.
Ibid col 175WH.
- 32.
Ibid col 176WH.
- 33.
Ibid.
- 34.
Labour MP for Reading East.
- 35.
HC Deb 18 May 2004, vol 421, col 180WH.
- 36.
Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham.
- 37.
HC Deb 18 May 2004, vol 421, col 178WH; Mr Loughton went beyond pornographic imagery and specifically referred to a website called ‘ogrish.com’, on which one may access according to him ‘footage of real suicides, an autopsy on a middle-aged woman, a bricklayer murdered by a co-worker after a drunken argument about a soccer match, a cross-dresser who died of asphyxiation after sniffing model aeroplane glue, burnt Iraqi persons, various cancer-related images, and an Iraqi killed by a sword to the back of his neck’; Ibid col 177WH.
- 38.
Ibid col 178WH.
- 39.
Labour MP for Redcar.
- 40.
HC Deb 18 May 2004, vol 421, col 181WH.
- 41.
Ibid.
- 42.
Ibid col 182WH.
- 43.
Ibid col 180WH.
- 44.
Ibid.
- 45.
Ibid col 191WH.
- 46.
Ibid.
- 47.
Entitled ‘The Jane Longhurst Campaign Against Violent Internet Pornography’, a copy of which is available at http://www.martinsalter.com/pdf/jane-longhurst-petition.pdf, accessed 10 August 2013.
- 48.
M Prior, ‘My daughter’s killer cannot win’ BBC News (London 23 November 2005), http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/4462712.stm, accessed 10 August 2013.
- 49.
Ibid.
- 50.
‘Anti-porn petition handed to MPs’ BBC News (London 23 November 2005), http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4460828.stm, accessed 10 August 2013.
- 51.
Ibid 1.
- 52.
Ibid [5].
- 53.
Ibid [39].
- 54.
Ibid [41].
- 55.
Ibid [40].
- 56.
- 57.
Ibid [40].
- 58.
Ibid [53].
- 59.
Ibid [26].
- 60.
Ibid [26].
- 61.
T Tate, ‘The child pornography industry: International trade in child sexual abuse’ in C Itzin (ed), Pornography, Women, Violence and Civil Liberties (OUP, Oxford: 1992) 204.
- 62.
Ibid.
- 63.
Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [38] (emphasis added).
- 64.
L Williams, ‘Power, Pleasure and Perversion: Sadomasochistic Film Pornography’ (1989) 27 Representations 37, 46.
- 65.
M Eneman, ‘The New Face of Child Pornography’ in M Klang and A Murray (eds), Human Rights in the Digital Age (Cavendish, London: 2005) 28.
- 66.
AD Murray, ‘The reclassification of extreme pornographic images’ (2009) 72(1) Modern Law Review 73, 77.
- 67.
A Gillespie, ‘Defining child pornography: Challenges for the law’ (2010) 22(2) Child and Family Law Quarterly 200, 212.
- 68.
DW Bower, ‘Holding virtual child pornography creators liable by judicial redress: An alternative approach to overcoming the obstacles presented in Ashcroft v Free Speech Coalition’ (2004) 19(1) BYU Journal of Public Law 235, 241; E Quayle and M Taylor, ‘Child pornography and the Internet: Perpetuating a cycle of abuse’ (2002) 23(4) Deviant Behaviour 331, 332; MC Seto, JM Cantor and R Blanchard, ‘Child pornography offenses are a valid diagnostic indicator of pedophilia’ (2006) 115(3) Journal of Abnormal Psychology 610.
- 69.
RP Tyler and LE Stone, ‘Child pornography: Perpetuating the sexual victimization of children’ (1985) 9(3) Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal 313; E Quayle and M Taylor, Child Pornography: An Internet Crime (Brunner-Routledge, Hove: 2003) 73; Y Akdeniz, Internet Child Pornography and the Law: National and International Responses (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, Aldershot: 2008) 22–3; E Martellozzo, Online Child Sexual Abuse: Grooming, Policing and Child Protection in a Multi-Media World (Routledge, Oxon: 2012) 104; S Smallbone, WL Marshall and R Wortley, Preventing Child Sexual Abuse: Evidence, Policy and Practice (Willan Publishing, Devon: 2000) 164; SL Goldstein, The Sexual Exploitation of Children: A Practical Guide to Assessment, Investigation, and Intervention (2nd ed, CRC Press, New York: 1999).
- 70.
cf N Levy, ‘Virtual child pornography: The eroticization of inequity’ (2002) 4(4) Ethics and Information Technology 319, 321.
- 71.
Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [27].
- 72.
Ibid 22 (Annex C: Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment).
- 73.
A Millwood Hargrave and S Livingstone, Harm and Offence in Media Content: A Review of the Evidence (2nd ed, Intellect Books, Bristol: 2009) 245.
- 74.
Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [31].
- 75.
Ibid 11.
- 76.
Ibid [i], 1 (Executive Summary), [27].
- 77.
Home Office, Consultation on the Possession of the Extreme Pornographic Material: Summary of Responses and Next Steps (Home Office Communications Directorate, London: 2006) 3.
- 78.
The term ‘organisations’ indicated responses received from police forces, campaigning groups, charities, religious groups, professional bodies, government and regulators.
- 79.
Backlash, ‘About us’, http://www.backlash-uk.org.uk/wp/?page_id=94, accessed 10 August 2013.
- 80.
J Petley, ‘To the censors, we’re all Aboriginals now’ Spiked Online (2 July 2007), http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/3556#.Ugi_C9JM-t0, accessed 12 August 2013.
- 81.
Ibid.
- 82.
R Ford, ‘Mother wins fight for new law against violent porn on the net’ The Times (London 31 August 2006) 6.
- 83.
Response No 375 (Lilith Project; an organisation that identifies itself as ‘a pan-London, second tier, violence against women agency’); response No 357 (Object; an organisation that describes itself as ‘a UK-based organisation that challenges the objectification of women in the media, advertising and sex industries’); response No 219 (Justice for Women; an organisation the stated mission of which is to ‘contribute to the global effort to eradicate male violence against women, which includes sexual and domestic violence’); response No 330 (The Christian Institute; a nondenominational Christian charity established for ‘the furtherance and promotion of the Christian religion in the United Kingdom’; response No 295 (The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship, which – according to them – exists ‘to bring the whole Good News of Jesus Christ within the legal world’).
- 84.
Response No 255 (MediaWatch-UK; a pressure group that campaigns for socially responsible broadcasting and against offensive and harmful content in the media).
- 85.
Response No 303 (Rights of Women; they identify themselves as ‘a women’s voluntary organisation committed to informing, educating and empowering women concerning their legal rights’); see also response No 175 (West Midlands Police).
- 86.
Response No 307 (Professor L Kelly for the CWASU of the London Metropolitan University).
- 87.
Response No 176 (Barnardo’s); response No 37 (His Honour Judge Heath, Lincoln Crown Court).
- 88.
Response No 219 (Justice for Women).
- 89.
Ibid.
- 90.
Response No 303 (Wearside Women in Need); see also C Phillipson, ‘The reality of pornography’ in C McGlynn, E Rackley and N Westmarland (eds), Positions on the Politics of Porn: A Debate on Government Plans to Criminalise the Possession of Extreme Pornography (Durham University, Durham: 2007) 20.
- 91.
M Popovic, ‘Establishing new breeds of (sex) offenders: Science or political control?’ (2007) 22(2) Sexual and Relationship Therapy 255, 261.
- 92.
V Burr, T Butt, N King, K Milnes, R Goldstein and JL Smith, ‘Extreme pornography consultation’ (2006) 19(5) The Psychologist 268, 268–9.
- 93.
Ibid.
- 94.
Ibid.
- 95.
Response No 124 (Cyber-rights & Cyber-liberties; a non-profit organisation which has been involved in the Internet policy-making processes of the UK Government, the EU, the Council of Europe and the United Nations).
- 96.
Cited in Home Office, Next Steps (n 80) 10.
- 97.
Backlash, ‘“Extreme” pornography proposals: Ill-conceived and wrong’ in McGlynn et al., Positions on the Politics of Porn (n 93) 10, 12.
- 98.
B Kutchinsky, ‘The effect of easy availability of pornography on the incidence of sex crimes: The Danish experience’ (1971) 29(2) Journal of Social Issues 163–181; Kutchinsky suggested that the availability of pornography was ‘the direct cause’ of this decrease. See also R Ben-Veniste, ‘Pornography and sex crime: The Danish experience’, Technical Reports of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, Vol. 7 (US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC: 1971).
- 99.
Response No 255 (n 87) (Mediawatch-UK).
- 100.
Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [57]. The official Government position on this matter is discussed in greater detail below.
- 101.
Response No 217 (Campaign against Censorship; an organisation that identifies itself as ‘the successor to the Defence of Literature and the Arts Society that was founded in 1968 to assist writers, artists, and others threatened by censorship, and to campaign for reform of censorship laws’); see also response No 301 (Sexual Freedom Coalition; a pressure group which ‘promotes and defends the right to freedom of sexual expressions between consenting adults’), expressing concern over the potential ‘invasion of privacy, singling out and harassment of otherwise law-abiding individuals and groups leading an alternative lifestyle’.
- 102.
Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [34].
- 103.
Response No 395 (British Telecommunications Plc).
- 104.
Response No 39, [28].
- 105.
G Phillipson, ‘Pornography, difference and the limits of freedom of expression’, obtained through personal communication (email); his argument is cited partially in McGlynn et al., Positions on the Politics of Porn (n 93) 35.
- 106.
Ibid 8.
- 107.
Ibid 7.
- 108.
Backlash, ‘“Extreme” pornography proposals: Ill-conceived and wrong’ in McGlynn et al., Positions on the Politics of Porn (n 93) 12.
- 109.
Response No 235 (Channel 4); response No 249 (BBC).
- 110.
Response No 194.
- 111.
Ibid.
- 112.
Ibid.
- 113.
Response No 359 (Telewest Communications; broadband communications and media group); response No 260 (London Internet Exchange; an organisation which describes himself as ‘the largest and most successful Internet exchange point in Europe’); response No 395 (British Telecommunications Plc); response 288 (Internet Service Providers Association; the trade association for companies involved in the provision of Internet services in the UK).
- 114.
Response No 210 (Internet Watch Foundation).
- 115.
Ibid.
- 116.
Ibid.
- 117.
Response No 374 (The National Council for Civil Liberties, aka ‘Liberty’. They noted that both wounding with intent and grievous bodily harm with intent were offences under s 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861).
- 118.
Ibid.
- 119.
Response No 194 (BBFC); similar points were raised in response No 249 (BBC).
- 120.
Response No 124 (n 98) (Cyber-rights & Cyber-liberties).
- 121.
As identified in Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [5].
- 122.
Response No 175 (West Midlands Police). Chapter 5 offers a more detailed discussion of the relation between s 69 of the 2003 Act and s 63(7) of the CJIA 2008.
- 123.
Ibid; the same point was raised in response No 91 (Hampshire Police).
- 124.
Ibid (West Midlands Police).
- 125.
Response No 212 (Nottinghamshire Police, Sexual Exploitation Investigation Unit and Dangerous Persons Management Unit).
- 126.
Response No 284 (Kent Police, Protection of Adults and Children Team).
- 127.
Response No 262.
- 128.
Ibid.
- 129.
Response No 303 (Wearside Women in Need).
- 130.
Ibid.
- 131.
Response No 254 (UKERNA; the organisation that runs the JANET computer network which connects UK universities, further educations colleges, research councils, specialist colleges and adult and community learning providers); response No 371 (NTL; cable communications company); response No 359 (Telewest Communications; broadband communications and media group).
- 132.
Response No 249 (BBC).
- 133.
Response 288 (n 116) (Internet Service Providers Association).
- 134.
The second option was to impose a penalty for possession of three years and increase the penalty for OPA offences to five years in order to maintain the distinction; see further Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [53].
- 135.
The first option was to impose a penalty of less than three years; Ibid [53].
- 136.
Home Office, Next Steps (n 80) 5.
- 137.
Ibid 6.
- 138.
Ibid.
- 139.
Ibid.
- 140.
Ibid.
- 141.
Ibid.
- 142.
Ibid.
- 143.
Ibid 7.
- 144.
Ibid.
- 145.
Ibid.
- 146.
CJIB 2007, cl 64(3).
- 147.
Ibid cl 64(6).
- 148.
Ibid cl 66; Home Office, Next Steps (n 80) 7.
- 149.
Home Office, Next Steps (n 80) 6.
- 150.
C McGlynn and E Rackley, ‘The politics of porn’ (2007) 157(7285) NLJ 1142.
- 151.
Ibid.
- 152.
Ibid.
- 153.
Ibid.
- 154.
Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead.
- 155.
HC Public Bill Committee, Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, 16 October 2007, col 31, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmpublic/criminal/071016/am/71016s01.htm, accessed 15 August 2013.
- 156.
C Itzin, A Taket and L Kelly, The Evidence of Harm to Adults Relating to Exposure to Extreme Pornographic Material: A Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA), Ministry of Justice Research Series 11/07 (Ministry of Justice, London: 2007).
- 157.
Ibid [iii].
- 158.
Ibid [v].
- 159.
C Smith, ‘Where is the evidence’ The Guardian Online (London 24 December 2007), http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/dec/24/wherestheevidence, accessed 14 September 2013.
- 160.
One of them responded to the 2005 consultation; see response No 307 above submitted by Professor L Kelly for the CWASU of the London Metropolitan University, arguing: ‘Our interest has never been in “proving” direct causal links between pornography and specific acts of sexual violence, […] but to suggest that the existence and now virtual ubiquity of pornography creates a cultural context which devalues women’s humanity and dignity.’
- 161.
F Attwood and C Smith, ‘Extreme concern: Regulating “dangerous pictures” in the United Kingdom’ (2010) 37(1) J Law & Soc 171, 175; see also J Toynbee, ‘Media making and social reality’ in D Hesmondlhalgh and J Toynbee (eds), The Media & Social Theory (Routledge, London: 2008) 267.
- 162.
Millwood Hargrave and Livingstone (n 75) 245–46; D Linz, S Penrod and E Donnerstein, ‘The Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography: The gaps between “findings” and facts’ (1987) 4 American Bar Foundation Research Journal 713, 714: ‘Laboratory investigations of the psychological and behavioral effects of violent pornography […] also have certain built-in methodological limitations. Most prominent among these is the use of artificial measures of aggression that prohibit direct exploration of experimental findings to situations outside the laboratory.’
- 163.
Attwood and Smith (n 164) 176.
- 164.
Ibid 174.
- 165.
HC Public Bill Committee, Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, 16 October 2007, col 31, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmpublic/criminal/071016/am/71016s01.htm, accessed 15 August 2013.
- 166.
Ibid.
- 167.
Ibid.
- 168.
Ibid.
- 169.
Ibid.
- 170.
Ibid col 32.
- 171.
Ibid.
- 172.
Conservative MP for Broxbourne.
- 173.
HC Public Bill Committee (n 168) col 67.
- 174.
Ibid.
- 175.
Ibid.
- 176.
CJIB 2007, cl 65(2). The exclusion of classified films would ensure that individuals who were in possession of a video recording of a film certified by the BBFC would not be prosecuted, even if the film at issue contained an image which contravened cl 64, but was justified by the context of the work as a whole. The issue of excluded images is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 4, in which s 64 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is analysed.
- 177.
Ibid cl 65(3).
- 178.
Murray (n 68) 82.
- 179.
HC Public Bill Committee, Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, 18 October 2007, col 122, http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmpublic/criminal/071018/pm/71018s01.htm, accessed 15 August 2013.
- 180.
Casino Royale (2006), directed by Martin Campbell.
- 181.
‘12A’ and ‘12’ categories are awarded for cinema films and video works, respectively, where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over.
- 182.
CJIB 2007, cl 65(3)(b); now, CJIA 2008, s 64(3)(b).
- 183.
HC Public Bill Committee (n 182) col 124.
- 184.
Conservative MP for Harborough.
- 185.
HC Public Bill Committee (n 182) col 124.
- 186.
Ibid col 125.
- 187.
Ibid.
- 188.
Murray (n 68) 84.
- 189.
The Bill completed its Committee stage in the Lords on 12 March 2008 and began its Report stage on 26 March.
- 190.
HL Deb 3 March 2008, vol 699, col 893 (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath).
- 191.
Ibid col 894 (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath).
- 192.
Ibid col 895.
- 193.
Ibid.
- 194.
Ibid col 894 (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath).
- 195.
Ibid col 895.
- 196.
Ibid.
- 197.
Ibid col 898 (Lord Faulkner of Worcester, Labour Peer).
- 198.
Ibid col 899 (Baroness Falkner of Margravine, Liberal Democrat Peer).
- 199.
Ibid col 896 (Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer, Liberal Democrat Peer).
- 200.
Ibid col 897.
- 201.
Ibid.
- 202.
Ibid col 894.
- 203.
See also Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [57].
- 204.
Explanatory Notes to the CJIB 2007, para 806.
- 205.
Ibid para 805.
- 206.
Malone v The United Kingdom (App No 8691/ 79) (1985) 7 EHRR 14; in Silver and Others v The United Kingdom (App Nos 5947/72, 6205/73, 7052/75) (1983) 5 EHRR 347 it was held that the phrase ‘prescribed by law’ employed in Art 10 of the Convention should be interpreted and applied likewise.
- 207.
Joint Committee on Human Rights, Legislative Scrutiny: Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, (Fifth Report) (2007–8, HL 37, HC 269) [1.50].
- 208.
Joint Committee on Human Rights, Legislative Scrutiny: Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, (Fifteenth Report) (2007–8, HL 81, HC 440) [2.16]; see also G Crossman, Liberty’s Second Reading Briefing on the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill in the House of Lords (Liberty, London: 2008) [25].
- 209.
Joint Committee on Human Rights, (Fifteenth Report) (n 211) [2.16].
- 210.
HL Deb 3 March 2008, vol 699, col 904 (Lord Wallace of Tankerness, Liberal Democrat Peer).
- 211.
Ibid col 908.
- 212.
Explanatory Notes to the CJIB 2007, para 803.
- 213.
[1994] 1 AC 212 HL. Brown was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights in Laskey, Jaggard and Brown v The United Kingdom (Appl Nos 21627/93, 21826/93 and 21974/93) (1997) 24 EHRR 39, in which it was held that the interference with the defendants’ right under Art 8 of the ECHR was justified on grounds of protection of health.
- 214.
Explanatory Notes to the CJIB 2007, para 803.
- 215.
Ibid para 804.
- 216.
Letter dated 6 December 2007 from Rt Hon David Hanson MP, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice cited in Joint Committee on Human Rights, (Fifth Report) (n 210) Appendix 3, [30].
- 217.
A Carline, ‘Criminal justice, extreme pornography and prostitution: Protecting women or protecting morality?’ (2011) 14(3) Sexualities 312, 325; Popovic (n 94) 258: ‘“fantasists” (e.g. violent porn users) and rapists are two different groups’.
- 218.
CJIA 2008, s 63(1).
- 219.
Home Office, Consultation (n 52) 1.
- 220.
Petley (n 83).
- 221.
Conservative MP for Harborough.
- 222.
Cited in K Beaumont, ‘Consumers targeted in pornography law shake-up’ LexisNexis Butterworths News (London 19 May 2008) 24.
- 223.
Ibid.
- 224.
Ibid.
- 225.
Murray (n 68) 77.
- 226.
Home Office, Consultation (n 52) ii.
- 227.
Ibid [34].
- 228.
Ibid [31].
- 229.
C McGlynn and E Rackley, ‘Criminalising extreme pornography: A lost opportunity’ (2009) 4 Crim LR 245, 258.
- 230.
See also HL Deb 3 March 2008, vol 699, col 896 (Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer, Liberal Democrat Peer).
- 231.
Memorandum submitted by Dr Clarissa Smith et al. (CJ&I 341), http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmpublic/criminal/memos/ucm34102.htm, accessed 15 August 2013; see also D Howitt and G Cumberbatch, Pornography: Impacts and Influences (Home Office Research and Planning Unit, London: 1990) 83, a study which was commissioned by the Home Office itself and stressed the distinction between ‘the use of pornography by “deviant” persons and the effects of pornography in creating that deviancy’.
- 232.
HC Deb 8 October 2007, vol 464, col 113 (Martin Salter MP).
- 233.
HL Deb 3 March 2008, vol 699, col 907 (Lord Hunt, Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Labour).
- 234.
HC Deb 8 October 2007, vol 464, col 60 (Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor).
- 235.
Ibid.
- 236.
Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [52].
- 237.
P Devlin, The Enforcement of Morals (OUP, Oxford: 1965) 11: ‘Society may use the law to preserve morality in the same way as it uses it to safeguard against anything else that is essential to its existence.’
- 238.
Ibid 15.
- 239.
Ibid 17.
- 240.
However, the criminalisation of extreme pornography on the grounds of feelings of ‘disgust’ is disputed. For a critique of this position, see C McGlynn and E Rackley, ‘Striking a balance: Arguments for the criminal regulation of extreme pornography’ (2007) (September) Crim LR 677, 686–7. More generally, see MC Nussbaum, Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame and the Law (Princeton University Press, Woodstock: 2004) 13–4, 143; R Dworkin, Taking Rights Seriously (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA: 1977) 242–45, 253–4.
- 241.
HL Deb 3 March 2008, vol 699, col 908 (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath); Home Office, Consultation (n 52) [11].
- 242.
Ibid col 910 (The Rt Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chester).
- 243.
McGlynn and Rackley, ‘A lost opportunity’ (n 232) 259.
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Ministry of Justice Circular 2009/01, Possession of extreme pornographic images and increase in the maximum sentence for offences under the Obscene Publications Act 1959: Implementation of section 63–67 and section 71 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 (Criminal Law Policy Unit, London: 2009).
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Antoniou, A.K., Akrivos, D. (2017). The Legislative History of the s 63 Offence. In: The Rise of Extreme Porn. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48971-1_3
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