Longer child porn jail terms planned

Offenders possessing objectionable material such as child pornography could land in jail for five years under new proposals.

The Government plans to toughen legislation before Parliament to bring the proposed maximum penalty of two years in jail for that crime to five years' jail.

Justice Minister Phil Goff said the changes would be made to the Films, Videos and Publication Classification Amendment Bill.

The amendments would be introduced during debate on the bill's detail, which is expected to be held next week.

Under the bill, penalties for producing and trading in child pornography would be increased tenfold to a maximum of 10 years in prison.

The legislation would create the new offence of "knowingly possessing objectionable material", such as child pornography, Mr Goff said.

At present possession of such material carries no prison sentence, only a fine of up to $2000.

Under the legislation as introduced that crime carries a two-year penalty.

But Mr Goff said there had been an emerging consensus overseas for a maximum penalty of up to five years for possession of child pornography.

The Australian standing committee of attorneys-general recommended at the end of last year that all Australian jurisdictions should provide for a five-year penalty for possession.

"I think New Zealand should also be aligned with that recommendation," Mr Goff said.

"Child pornography involves the actual abuse of children. People who trade or possess it are encouraging that abuse by creating a market for the images, and penalties should reflect that fact," he said.

The abusive nature of child pornography would also be recognised by it being considered an aggravating factor at sentencing.

The explosion of internet-based child pornography had fundamentally changed offending patterns here and overseas.

The penalties in the bill would cover all forms of distribution, whether for commercial gain or not.

The bill also provided for extradition of people who had committed offences in other countries, and introduced importing and exporting offences in recognition that trade in child pornography was an international problem.

The Government appears to have saved Act MP Deborah Coddington the trouble. She said yesterday she planned to introduce an amendment raising the maximum penalty for possession of child porn to five years' jail in line with Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

- NZPA