UK Outlaws possession of “Extreme” pornography

 On January 26, 2009 The Criminal Justice and immigration Act 2008 goes into effect, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.  It criminalizes the POSSESSION of extreme pornographic images.
 The Maximum punishment upon conviction is an unlimited fine and three years in prison.

You can read all the intricacies of the law here.

Below are how I regurgitate some of the important points.

There are three elements to meet to determine the crime-

1. The Image is pornographic.

2.  The image is grossly offensive, disgusting, or obscene.

3. That the image portrays in an explicit and realistic way, one of the following-

    a. An act which threatens a person’s life;
    b. An act which results in or is likely to result in serious injury to a person’s anus, breast or genitals;
    c. An act involving sexual interference with a human corpse,
    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 the people and animals portrayed were real.

People who accidently come across such an image, or it is sent to them without their concent can delete the image and are exempt from prosecution.

People who film or photograph such an image can not be exempt. (What if they filmed it by accident? lol)

This is a new law to cover POSSESSION. There are already a set of laws on the books for people who produce or publish such materials.