The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to the publication or distribution of obscene or offensive material in England and Wales for the years 2004 to 2006 can be viewed in the table.
Court proceedings data are unable to separately identify those offences which relate specifically to the internet as the offences used are not internet specific.
Court proceedings data for 2007 will be available in the autumn of 2008.
Proceeded against Found guilty 2004 343 232 2005 512 368 2006 761 516 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 The offences used are not internet specific, the court proceedings database is unable to separately identify those offences which relate to internet based offences. 4 Includes the following statutes and offence description: Obscene Publications Act 1959 S.2(1)—Publishing obscene material. Having obscene article for publication for gain. Obscene Publications Act 1959 S.2—Having negative for publication of obscene article for gain. Communications Act 2003 S.127(1)(a)—Send by means of electronic communications network a message/matter which was grossly offensive or of an indecent/obscene/menacing character. Communications Act 2003 S.127(l)(b)—Cause to be sent by means of an electronic communications network a message/matter which was grossly offensive or of an indecent/obscene/menacing character. Malicious Communications Act 1988 S.1(1)(b)—Sending article which is in whole or in part indecent or grossly offensive. Source: Court Proceedings Database held by RDS Office for Criminal Justice Reform—Ministry of Justice