Protection of Children Act 1978
As first enacted, the Protection of Children Act 1978 (UK) defined 4 offences:
Section 1.
(1) It is an offence for a person
- (a) to take, or permit to be taken, any indecent photograph of a child (meaning in this Act a person under the age of 16) ; or
- (b) to distribute or show such indecent photographs; or
- (c) to have in his possession such indecent photographs, with a view to their being distributed or shown by himself or others ; or
- (d) to publish or cause to be published any advertisement likely to be understood as conveying that the advertiser distributes or shows such indecent photographs or intends to do so.
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 amended this to deal with the concept of pseudo-photographs.
1. (1) It is an offence for a person
- (a) to take, or permit to be taken or to make, any indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child; or
- (b) to distribute or show such indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs; or
- (c) to have in his possession such indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs, with a view to their being distributed or shown by himself or others ; or
- (d) to publish or cause to be published any advertisement likely to be understood as conveying that the advertiser distributes or shows such indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs or intends to do so.
In an appeal against conviction in R v Bowden (1999) the Court of Appeal held that downloading data representing indecent photographs of children from the Internet amounts to an offence within the meaning of s.1(1)(a) of the Protection of Children Act 1978.
Referenced By
Child pornography | Indecent photograph of a child | Law topics | List of legal topics | Operation Pin | Pseudo-photograph | Pseudo-photographs | R v Bowden (1999)
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