Extreme Porn Law Goes into Effect January 26, 2009 in Britain

"Extreme Porn" Viewers Can Face 3 Years Jail Time and Be Put on a Sex Offender Register!

Linda StCyr
Are you a fan of Extreme Pornography? Perhaps you are interested in BDSM or simple bondage for your porn tastes. Maybe you enjoy a little violence in the porn you are viewing. Well as of January 26, 2009 if you live in Britain you will now be a criminal for your tastes in porn. In December an amendment to Britain's laws included Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008. The amendment is a ban on "Extreme Pornography".

This is an excerpt of the code which pertains to the code which goes into effect at the end of the month obtained from Wikipedia:

Section 63 creates a new offence of possessing "an extreme pornographic image."

An image is deemed to be extreme if it "is grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character" and "it portrays, in an explicit and realistic way, any of the following- (a) an act which threatens a person's life, (b) an act which results, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person's anus, breasts or genitals, (c) an act which involves sexual interference with a human corpse, or (d) a person performing an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive), and a reasonable person looking at the image would think that any such person or animal was real."

If you are found with an image deemed to fall into the category of "Extreme Pornography" then you can be sentenced to a maximum of 3 years in prison or a maximum of 2 years in prison (depending on the level of extremeness as determined by a court). In addition to prison time for viewing such pornographic images once sentenced those who have been found guilty will also be placed on the Violent and Sex Offenders Register.

This new law will affect several of Britain's communities as well as individuals. Some of the effected groups include BDSM communities, Bondage groups, Goth/ Horror Enthusiasts, Porn Viewers, Extreme Burlesque Shows and many others.

Many groups have gone to battle over the wording of the new law saying that it is too vague in its wording. These groups have no problem with parts c and d which are currently already illegal under necrophilia laws and bestiality laws. Caan (Consenting Adults Action Network) and Backlash are just 2 of the groups fighting the new law. Backlash is preparing in advance with human rights lawyers for when "Extreme Pornography" cases come to court.

Sources:

Battle Lines Drawn Over Bill to Ban Extreme Porn

Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008

Extreme Porn: Latest

Published by Linda StCyr

Linda St.Cyr has been a featured contributor for Associated Content from Yahoo!, she is the author of several short stories including the story "Leaving" published in the anthology collection, Elements of Ti...   View profile

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The maximum sentencing for those found with extreme pornography is 3 years and also placement on the Violent and Sex Offender Register in Britain.

15 Comments

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  • Julia 2/26/2010

    Extreme porn is disgusting,gross and offensive~and I wish they would ban it in the US! It serves no good purpose to anyone and hurts the people who are making it.Whether they chose to make it or not does not make it right.

  • verdy 2/4/2009

    i agree with you!!!!

  • Anonymous 1/25/2009

    Note that there already are age restrictions those in porn videos - after all, that's what child porn law covers. Possession of any "indecent" image of someone under the age of 18 is a criminal offence to possess.

  • Susan Anderson 1/24/2009

    I agree with Lady Samantha on this one!

  • Linda StCyr 1/24/2009

    Thanks Mark!

  • Mark 1/24/2009

    There's a protest against this law in London tomorrow, Sunday 25 Jan: http://caan.org.uk/campaigns/Action25Jan.html .

    2-5pm, at Parliament Square Westminster, London.

    @Jennifer: There isn't really a category of "extreme porn" - it's a new arbitary definition the Government have introduced in this law, to criminalise possession of the images that they don't like (find "abhorrent" or "disgusting", to use the Government's own words).

  • Lady Samantha 1/21/2009

    I think it's a little extreme to be banning this...However there should be restrictions on age of those who are in porn videos. I think it would be more effective if they actually closed whorehouses...

  • Charlotte Kuchinsky 1/20/2009

    I don't know how they intend to police it but I honestly detest the entire idea of porn.

  • Lenora Murdock 1/20/2009

    Enforcement of decency. Intriguing crossroad between privacy and state sense of morality.

  • jpsixbear 1/20/2009

    i don't know how they will draw a line. do you suppose they have it all written out like in detail? you can do this but not that. that would be pretty funny.

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