This week Parliament will discuss a new Bill which will make it a criminal
offence to possess cartoons depicting certain forms of child abuse. If the
Coroners and Justice Bill remains unaltered it will make it illegal to own
any picture of children participating in sexual activities, or present
whilst sexual activity took place.
The Ministry of Justice claims that the Bill is needed to clamp down on the
growing quantity of hardcore paedophilic cartoon porn available on the
internet, particularly from Japan. But critics of the legislation say the
current definitions are so sweeping that it risks stifling mainstream
artistic expression as well as turning thousands of law abiding comic book
fans into potential sex offenders.
