The Sentencing Advisory Panel has today published a proposal that the Court of Appeal should issue a sentencing guideline on offences involving the making, possession or distribution of child pornography.

The Panel believes that sentencing for these offences should reflect the harm suffered by children who are abused and exploited by pornographers. Even an offender who has simply downloaded images from the Internet for his own use, without showing or distributing them to others, must bear some responsibility for the child abuse involved in making the images.

The Panel offers sentencers a structured approach to assessing the seriousness of an individual offence and selecting the appropriate penalty. It proposes that the two primary factors determining the seriousness of an offence should be:

• the nature of the indecent material (from images of nudity or erotic posing to those depicting gross assault of children by adults, sadism or bestiality); and
• the extent of the offender's involvement with the material (from possession for the offender's personal use to the original production of images or widescale commercial distribution).

The Panel accepts that, in cases of showing or distributing indecent photographs, a prison sentence is normally the only option. Nevertheless, the Panel points out that community penalties requiring attendance at a sex offender treatment programme can be effective in preventing some offenders from committing further offences. Accordingly, the Panel advises that, when the offence is less serious, the offender's suitability for treatment should be assessed.

Notes for editors

1. The Sentencing Advisory Panel is an independent advisory and consultative body constituted under sections 80 and 81 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The Panel is sponsored by the Home Office and the Lord Chancellor's Department. It started work on 1 July 1999. Its function is to provide fully researched, objective advice to the Court of Appeal to assist the Court when it frames or revises sentencing guidelines.

2. The Panel's proposal covers the 5 separate offences detailed below. Under section 1(1) of the Protection of Children Act 1978, 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 or conveying that the advertiser distributes or shows such indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs, or intends to do so.'

The maximum penalty for any of these 4 offences is 10 years' imprisonment on indictment (formerly three years: the increased maximum applies to offences committed on or after 11 January 2001).

Under section 160(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, it is an offence for a person to have an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child in his possession. The maximum penalty for this offence is 5 years' imprisonment on indictment. (Again, this applies to offences committed on or after 11 January 2001. The simple possession offence was formerly summary only, with a maximum penalty of 6 months' imprisonment.)

3. The Sentencing Advisory Panel published its third annual report to the Home Secretary and the Lord Chancellor on 26 June 2002. Since 1 April 2001, the Panel has published proposals that the Court of Appeal should frame sentencing guidelines on:

• extended sentences for sexual and violent offenders (published on 1 November 2001 and adopted by the Court of Appeal in the guideline judgment R v Nelson [2002] 1 Cr App R (S) 565);
• Minimum terms in murder cases (published on 23 April 2002; the Lord Chief Justice's Practice Statement as to Life Sentences, 31 May 2002, is based substantially on the Panel's advice);
• Domestic burglary (published on 10 May 2002);
• Rape (published on 24 May 2002)

4. The Panel is currently consulting on sentencing guidelines for the offence of causing death by dangerous driving. Responses to the consultation paper (issued on 18 July) are requested by 11 October 2002.

5. Copies of the Panel's latest proposal may be obtained from: Gareth Sweny, Sentencing Advisory Panel, Room 101, Clive House, Petty France, London SW1H 9HD (telephone 020 7271 8336; e-mail sap-secretariat@beeb.net). The document is also available on the Panel's website: http://www.sentencing-advisory-panel.gov.uk