LONDON — Because they will receive no extra funding or support to enforce the U.K.’s new law targeting “extreme” pornography, British police departments do not intend to mount sweeping operations to ferret out the material on home computers, chiefs said Sunday.“The police will not be actively targeting members of the public but will be conducting investigations into the unlawful possession of this material where found,” according to a statement released Sunday by the Association of Chief Police Officers.
The new law, which went into effect Monday, criminalizes the possession of material depicting necrophilia, bestiality or violence that looks life-threatening or is likely to result in serious injury to the breasts, genitals or anus. Rape imagery is included under the law, which was passed last year in the wake of a teacher’s murder by a man obsessed by violent hardcore porn he viewed on the internet.
According to the British government, the new law’s goal is to “protect the public from exposure to the collateral effects of material that should have no place in our society.” By attempting to stem demand for the material, the government hopes to affect supply.
The Justice Ministry said Sunday the responsibility for enforcement of the law lies with local police forces. The ministry expects to see only about 30 “extreme porn” prosecutions annually, with 10 of those resulting in an average of six months jail time per offender. The maximum allowed sentence is three years.
Critics already have begun to suggest the law hardly is worthwhile if no one is going to enforce it aggressively. Women’s groups have been particularly vocal.
“Many women’s organizations see this material as a factor in violence against women,” Sandrine Leveque of women’s group Object told the Guardian. “For a law to have any effect there needs to be the feeling that you might be caught breaking it, and if that’s not there it does undermine it.”
Fawcett Society Director Katherine Rake added, “It would make a nonsense of the legislation if there wasn’t proactive policing around it.”
