Data on the number of prosecutions and convictions under the Video Recording Act 1984, as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, in England and Wales 1996 to 2005 can be found in the table.
Court proceedings data for 2006 will be available in the autumn of 2007.
Offence description Supplying video recording of classified work in breach of classification Supplying video recording of unclassified work Persons video recording of unclassified work for the purpose of supply Prosecuted Found guilty Prosecuted Found guilty Prosecuted Found guilty 1996 18 17 67 57 75 61 1997 19 16 65 60 76 69 1998 31 22 31 28 77 75 1999 47 40 80 61 85 61 20005 23 18 79 69 75 73 2001 20 10 67 62 68 68 2002 22 14 62 59 64 62 2003 25 17 44 44 40 31 2004 11 8 42 31 49 43 2005 13 9 28 28 43 37
Certain video recordings only to be supplied in licensed sex shops Supply of video recording not complying with requirements as to labels etc Supply of video recordings containing false indication as to classification Prosecuted Found guilty Prosecuted Found guilty Prosecuted Found guilty 1996 1 1 3 2 2 2 1997 0 0 0 1 1 1998 0 0 1 1 1 1 1999 1 0 3 1 9 0 20005 1 0 8 6 1 1 2001 8 6 4 3 0 0 2002 9 4 0 0 0 0 2003 13 10 0 0 2 0 2004 664 648 1 0 2 2 2005 12 12 2 1 3 2 1 These data are on the principal offence basis. 2 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 3 Some of the statistics relate to illegal sales but it is not possible to tell whether these were necessarily sales to children. 4 Includes the following statutes and offence description: Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 11 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88(4). Supplying video recording of classified work in breach of classification. Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 9 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88. Supplying video recording of unclassified work. Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 10 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88. Persons video recording of unclassified work for the purpose of supply. Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 12 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88(5). Certain video recordings only to be supplied in licensed sex shops. Video Recording Act 1984 Sec 13. Supply of video recording not complying with requirements as to labels etc. Video Recording Act 1984, Sec 14 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Sec 88(6). Supply of video recordings containing false indication as to classification. 5 Staffordshire Police Force were only able to submit sample data for persons proceeded against and convicted in the magistrates' courts for the year 2000. Although sufficient to estimate higher orders of data, these data are not robust enough at a detailed level and have been excluded from the table. 6 Liverpool Trading Standards prosecuted two large suppliers of videos who were supplying R18 material by mail order; they can only be sold in, not from, licensed sex shops. These prosecutions account for just about all the cases that year. Source: Court Proceedings Database held by RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice