Possessing Extreme Pornography: policing, prosecutions and the need for reform

McGlynn, Clare; Bows, Hannah

doi:10.1177/0022018319877783

Possessing Extreme Pornography: policing, prosecutions and the need for reform

McGlynn, Clare; Bows, Hannah

Authors

Professor Clare McGlynn clare.mcglynn@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Dr Hannah Bows hannah.bows@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

The law criminalising the possession of extreme pornography, first enacted in 2008 and amended to include rape pornography in 2015, continues to generate considerable controversy and calls for reform. In order to inform these ongoing discussions, we undertook a study to find out information about who is being charged with extreme pornography offences and their characteristics in terms of gender, age and ethnicity, as well as data on the specific type of pornography forming the subject matter of those charges. Utilising freedom of information requests, our study provides valuable new information to help inform debates over the policing of extreme pornography across England and Wales. Overall, we found that the vast majority of those charged were white men across all age groups; that bestiality images formed the most common basis for charging and that, in respect of the data provided, the majority of charges were brought together with other sexual offences.

Citation

McGlynn, C., & Bows, H. (2019). Possessing Extreme Pornography: policing, prosecutions and the need for reform. Journal of Criminal Law, 83(6), 473-488. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018319877783

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jun 1, 2019
Online Publication Date	Sep 25, 2019
Publication Date	Dec 1, 2019
Deposit Date	Aug 21, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Oct 2, 2019
Journal	Journal of Criminal Law
Print ISSN	0022-0183
Electronic ISSN	1740-5580
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	83
Issue	6
Pages	473-488
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018319877783

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