Jersey Law
10/1994
PROTECTION OF
CHILDREN (JERSEY) LAW 1994
____________
1.
Interpretation
2.
Indecent photographs of
children
3.
Evidence
4.
Offences by corporations
5.
Entry, search and seizure
6.
Forfeiture
7.
Short title and commencement
A LAW to prohibit the taking of indecent photographs of children and to penalise the possession, distribution, showing and
advertisement of such indecent photographs; sanctioned by Order of Her Majesty
in Council of the
15th day of march 1994
____________
(Registered on the 22nd day of April 1994
____________
STATES OF JERSEY
____________
The 12th day of October 1993
____________
THE
STATES, subject to
the sanction of Her Most Excellent Majesty in Council, have adopted the
following Law –
ARTICLE 1
Interpretation
(1) In
this Law –
“child”
means a person under the age of sixteen years;
“film”
includes any form of video-recording.
(2) References
in this Law to an indecent photograph include an indecent film, a copy of an
indecent photograph or film, and an indecent photograph comprised in a film.
(3) Photographs,
including those comprised in a film, shall, if they show children and are
indecent, be treated for all purposes of this Law as indecent photographs of
children.
(4) References
in this Law to a photograph include the negative as well as the positive
version.
(5) For
the purposes of this Law, a person is to be regarded as distributing an
indecent photograph if he parts with possession of it to, or exposes or offers
it for acquisition by, another person.
(6) Where
in this Law there is a reference to an Article by number only, without further
identification, such reference shall be construed as a reference to the Article
of that number contained in this Law.
(7) Where
in any Article of this Law there is a reference to a paragraph, sub-paragraph
or clause by number or letter only, and without further identification, such
reference shall be construed as a reference to the paragraph, sub-paragraph or
clause of that number or letter contained in the Article of this Law in which
such reference occurs.
(8) Where
this Law refers to an enactment, the reference is to that enactment as amended
from time to time, and includes a reference to that enactment as extended or
applied by or under another enactment, including any other provision of that
enactment.
ARTICLE 2
Indecent
photographs of children
(1) A
person who –
(a) takes, or permits to be
taken, any indecent photograph of a child; or
(b) has in his possession
such indecent photographs; or
(c) distributes, or shows
such indecent photographs; or
(d) has in his possession
such indecent photographs, with a view to their being distributed or shown by
himself or others; or
(e) publishes or causes to
be published any advertisement likely to be understood as conveying that the
advertiser distributes or shows such indecent photographs, or intends to do so,
is guilty of an
offence and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three
years or to a fine, or to both.
(2) Proceedings
for an offence under this Law shall not be instituted except by or with the
consent of the Attorney General.
(3) Where
a person is charged with an offence under sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (1)
–
(a) either of the defences referred to in paragraph (4) shall be available to
him; and
(b) it shall be a defence for him to prove that the photograph was sent to
him without any prior request made by him or on his behalf and that he did not
keep it for an unreasonable time.
(4) Where
a person is charged with an offence under sub-paragraph (c) or (d) of paragraph
(1), it shall be a defence for him to prove –
(a) that he had a
legitimate reason for distributing or showing the photographs or, as the case
may be, having them in his possession; or
(b) that he had not himself
seen the photographs and did not know, nor had any cause to suspect, them to be
indecent.
(5) References
in the Children (Jersey) Law 1969 to the offences mentioned in the
First Schedule to that Law shall include an offence under sub-paragraph (a) of
paragraph (1).
ARTICLE 3
Evidence
(1) Subject
to paragraph (2), on a charge of an offence under sub-paragraph (a) of
paragraph (1) of Article 2, the wife or husband of the accused shall be
competent to give evidence at every stage of the proceedings, whether for the defence or for the prosecution, and whether the accused is
charged solely or jointly with any other person.
(2) Notwithstanding
paragraph (1) –
(a) the wife or husband
shall not be compellable either to give evidence or, in giving evidence, to
disclose any communications made to her or him during the marriage by the
accused; and
(b) the failure of a wife
or husband of the accused to give evidence shall not be made the subject of any
comment by the prosecution.
(3) In
proceedings under this Law a person is to be taken as having been a child at
any material time if it appears from the evidence as a whole that he was then
under the age of sixteen years.
ARTICLE 4
Offences
by corporations
(1) Where
a body corporate is guilty of an offence under this Law and it is proved that
the offence occurred with the consent or connivance of, or was attributable to
any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer
of the body, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity he,
as well as the body corporate, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence and
shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(2) Where
the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (1) shall
apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connexion
with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body
corporate.
ARTICLE 5
Entry,
search and seizure
(1) If
the Bailiff is satisfied by information on oath, given by a police officer,
that there is reasonable ground for suspecting that, in any premises there are
indecent photographs of children and that such photographs –
(a) are or have been taken
there; or
(b) are or have been shown
there, or are kept there with a view to their being distributed or shown,
he may issue a
warrant under his hand authorizing any police officer to enter and search the
premises using such reasonable force as is necessary within fourteen days from
the date of the warrant, and to seize and remove any articles which he believes
with reasonable cause to be or include indecent photographs of children taken
or shown on the premises, or kept there with a view to their being distributed
or shown.
(2) Articles
seized under the authority of the warrant, and not returned to the occupier of
the premises, shall be brought before the Magistrate.
(3) In
this Article and in Article 6 –
“the
Magistrate” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 1 of the Police
Court (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Jersey) Law 1949;
“premises”
includes land, buildings, movable structures, vessels, vehicles, aircraft and
hovercraft.
ARTICLE 6
Forfeiture
(1) The
Magistrate may issue a summons to the occupier of the premises in which were
found any articles brought before him in pursuance of Article 5 to appear on a
day specified in the summons before the court to show cause why they should not
be forfeited.
(2) Subject
to paragraph (3), if the court is satisfied that the articles are indecent
photographs of children, taken on the premises or shown there or kept there
with a view to their being distributed or shown, the court shall order them to
be forfeited.
(3) If
the person summoned under paragraph (1) does not appear, the court shall not
make an order unless service of the summons is proved.
(4) In
addition to the person summoned, any other person being the owner of the
articles brought before the court, or the persons who made them, or any other
person through whose hands they had passed before being seized, shall be
entitled to appear before the court on the day specified in the summons to show
cause why they should not be forfeited.
(5) Where
any of the articles are ordered to be forfeited under paragraph (2), any person
who appears, or was entitled to appear, to show cause against the making of the
order may appeal to the Inferior Number of the Royal Court.
(6) If
as respects any articles brought before it the court does not order forfeiture,
the court may if it thinks fit order the person on whose information the
warrant for their seizure was issued to pay such costs as the court thinks reasonable
to any person who has appeared before it to show cause why the photographs
should not be forfeited.
(7) Costs
ordered to be paid under paragraph (6) shall be recoverable as a civil debt.
(8) Where
indecent photographs of children are seized under Article 5, and a person is
convicted under paragraph (1) of Article 2 of offences in respect of those
photographs, the court shall order them to be forfeited.
(9) An
order made under paragraph (2) or (8), including an order made on appeal, shall
not take effect until the expiration of the ordinary time within which an
appeal may be instituted or, where such an appeal is duly instituted, until the
appeal is finally decided or abandoned.
(10) For
the purposes of paragraph (9) –
(a) an application for a
case to be stated or for leave to appeal shall be treated as the institution of
an appeal; and
(b) where a decision on
appeal is subject to a further appeal, the appeal is not finally decided until
the expiration of the ordinary time within which a further appeal may be
instituted or, where a further appeal is duly instituted, until the further
appeal is finally decided or abandoned.
(11) In
this Article “the court” means the Police Court.
ARTICLE 7
Short
title and commencement
This Law may be
cited as the Protection of Children (Jersey) Law 1994 and shall come into force
on such day as the States may by Act appoint.
G.H.C. COPPOCK
Greffier of the States.