News In Brief
People found guilty of possessing computer generated images and drawings of child abuse are to face up to three years’ imprisonment under proposals from the Ministry of Justice. Justice Minister Maria Eagle announced that after a consultation, the government had decided to make all images of child abuse illegal. Responses to the consultation paper Possession of Non-Photographic depictions of Child Sexual Abuse suggested that paedophiles could be bypassing laws by using computers to manipulate real photos of abuse into other graphic representations. Eagle says the proposals are not designed to criminalise art or pornographic cartoons, but will “target obscene, and often very realistic, images of child sexual abuse which have no place in our society”.
