§ Ms. RichardsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the findings of the Home Office and National Association of Chief Police Officers investigation on the links between pornography and violent crime are available; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RentonOver a period of three months earlier this year the police, at my right hon. Friend's request, noted any evidence of a link between the commission of sexual offences and the consumption of pornography. Forty-eight instances came to light where the perpetrator of a sexual offence was known to have looked at pornographic material at some time before the commission of the offence. No causal connection was identified in any of these cases. The exercise showed how difficult it is to obtain conclusive evidence either way about a link between pornography and sexual offences.