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Art and pornography

All images of child sexual abuse, including drawings and computer-generated images of child abuse, are to be made illegal.

Offenders holding such images will face criminal charges and up to three years in prison, under new proposals announced by Justice Minister Maria Eagle in May. The proposals were announced as part of the government’s response to a public consultation on the possession of non-photographic visual depictions of underage children engaged in sexual activity. It acknowledges the view that paedophiles could be circumventing the law by using computer technology to manipulate real photographs or videos of abuse into drawings or cartoons. Maria Eagle comments: “These new proposals will help close a loophole that we believe paedophiles are using to create images of child sexual abuse. This is not about criminalising art or pornographic cartoons more generally, but about targeting obscene, and often very realistic, images of child sexual abuse which have no place in our society.” The distribution or sale of material is currently illegal under the Obscene Publications Act, and possession of photos of child pornography is unlawful, but it is not yet a criminal offence to possess drawings and computer generated images of child abuse. The proposals announced will create a new...

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