LONDON — The U.K. Ministry of Justice on Friday revealed new government amendments to the pending Crime and Policing Bill, potentially limiting a planned ban on “step” content to apply only if adult performers role-play as minors.
In a press release, the ministry’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology confirmed that possession or publication of pornography depicting incest or adults pretending to be children will be criminalized. This reaffirms recent House of Lords amendments to the pending Crime and Policing Bill.
The wording of the government statement, however, suggests that it may be seeking a subtle but impactful tweak to the language in the Lords’ amendments.
Friday’s statement specifies that the ban on material depicting sex between step or foster relations applies “where one person is pretending to be under 18.” The Lords’ version of the amendment does not include that provision.
This appears to be an effort to limit the reach of the amendment, essentially removing the ban on “step” content unless an adult performer appears to be or is implied to be under 18.
Ongoing Tension Over Content Restrictions
In March, the House of Lords approved amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that would outlaw material depicting incest, including “step” content.
The government initially rejected criminalizing content depicting sex between stepparents and stepsiblings. However, Baroness Gabrielle Bertin, a Conservative member of the House of Lords who served as independent lead reviewer on the influential U.K. pornography review, pushed for extending the prohibition on depictions of incest to include “step” content, a change that the House of Lords approved.
The government also originally opposed the amendment outlawing content in which adult performers appear to portray minors, arguing that diverting police resources risks leaving real children at continued risk of harm, but was once again rebuffed by the House of Lords.
The Lords’ version of that prohibition would interpret elements such as costume and setting as evidence of whether an adult performer is portraying a minor. No explicit mention of a character’s age would be required. It is unclear whether the government will seek to change that wording.
If the Crime and Policing Bill becomes law with the new government amendments intact, publication of pornography depicting incest or adults role-playing as children would be punished with up to five years imprisonment. Possession of pornography depicting adults role-playing as children would carry a maximum sentence of three years, while possession of pornography depicting incest would carry a maximum sentence of two years.
Friday’s statement did not address a House of Lords-approved amendment that would entitle anyone appearing in adult content to withdraw their consent at any time. The government called that approach impractical, as it involves a commercial matter between performer and production company. However, the final language of the new government amendments has yet to be made public.
The statement notes, “Further details on the amendments will be set out in due course.”
The final language of the bill could also change after it returns to the House of Commons on Tuesday for consideration of the new amendments.
