The Contemporary Moral Crusade
31 March 2008UK nationals living in any part of the world could face prosecution under UK law - for acts done legally abroad - if the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill is enacted as amended at present.
Schedule 2 of the Sexual Offences Act. Currently, a UK national may be prosecuted in the UK if he commits such an offence abroad, if his actions also constitute an offence in the foreign jurisdiction.
The offences listed in Schedule 2 of the Sexual Offences Act include non-contact offences, such as the possession of indecent photographs (or pseudo-photographs) of children.
The bill also intends to amend Section 1(1) of the Act in relation to any image which is derived from an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child. Interestingly, this amendment would make it illegal to access images which appear to show adults, if the images are derived from indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children. A knowledgable source believes that Parliament will actually criminalise all “indecent” depictions of children.
Of interest on a tangential level is Section 63 of the bill, which will make it illegal to possess extreme pornographic images of adults. An extreme image, according to the bill, is one which depicts activity which is threatening to the life of a person, one which could cause harm to the genitals, anus or breasts of an actor, one which involves sex with a corpse, or one which involves bestiality, which is also “grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character.”
The proposed amendment regarding offences committed abroad - described in Section 71 of the bill - is a result of the “COE-wide guidelines on definitions of “child abuse” and “child exploitation”, how to establish jurisdiction over people who commit offences contrary to such guidelines, and how to punish people who commit a child sex offence.
The amendment described in Section 71 of the bill is somewhat surprising. One must ask why UK representatives within the Council of Europe were prepared to sign a document which means that UK nationals who are to be labelled as child abusers could be extradited to face charges in the UK. Although the public hates paedophiles, I suspect they would be happier for “paedophiles” to be viewing indecent images (or even committing contact offences) in a foreign country than posing a (perceived) threat to their children by being returned to the UK. I wonder how the public would feel if they knew about this aspect of the bill?
It is likely that nationals of other Council of Europe member states will also become subject to their country’s laws in all parts of the world, once the other member states enact legislation to conform to the treaty. Even the Netherlands has indicated that it intends to conform to the oppressive terms of the treaty, stating that it will criminalise the act of accessing child pornography on the internet, per Article 20 (f) of the treaty.
We’re not “sleepwalking into Police states”, we’re being catapulted into a Police World at the speed of light.
2 Responses to “The Contemporary Moral Crusade”
April 10th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
There already exists such an extra-territorial law, but it has not been used very often:
“According to extra-territorial law, UK authorities can prosecute for sexual offences convicted overseas against children under 16 by British citizens or residents.
However, since their introduction in 1997, these provisions have only been used to bring four prosecutions, resulting in all of three convictions.
The successful use of extra-territorial laws in the protection of children sends a strong prevention message. Consequently, its use and promotion is essential in combating child sex tourism”.
http://www.worldvision.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.68
These offences are unique in that the government selects which behaviours it wants to moderate overseas. Sex is top of the list it seems, meaning that we’re left with the ludicrous situation where a British National can be prosecuted after having violated no legal code in its applicable jurisdiction.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
“According to extra-territorial law, UK authorities can prosecute for sexual offences convicted overseas against children under 16 by British citizens or residents.”
A British citizen can be convicted for committing an offence under UK law abroad, subordinate to the act constituting an offence under the jurisdiction in which the act is done.
The proposed amendment will remove the requirement of “dual criminality”.