§ Mr. Roy Jenkinsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department the number of convictions for offences relating to the circulation of obscene literature for the five years prior to 1939 and the past five years, respectively, secured not under the Common Law but under Acts such as the Post Office Act.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeI regret that this information is not available.
§ Mr. Roy Jenkinsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1)
114W
OBSCENE PUBLICATIONS PROCEEDINGS IN ENGLAND AND WALES 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 Obscene Publications Act,1857 Number of destruction orders 39 33 44 66 11 67 271 115 154 132 Number of articles ordered to be destroyed— Books and magazines 900 1,506 5,314 24,727 3,006 40,404 65,277 31,842 44,130 167,293 Photographs 8,347 11,492 8,737 2,064 344 7,182 28,956 8,329 20,141 10,803 Postcards 78 7,784 Nil 17 Nil 297 11,662 16,029 32,603 16,646 Miscellaneous 176 705 622 5,006 7 160 2,150 2,546 1,950 18,609 Common law misdemeanour— publishing an obscene libel Mumber of persons found guilty 39 18 31 39 7 19 51 34 49 111 Total amount of of fines …£ 1,048.15 244 675 370.15 69 451 5,938 906 2,786 12,677 Range of sentences 6 wks-12 mths 6 mths-2 yrs 1–6 mths 1 mth-2 yrs 12 mths 3–12 mths 6 wks-2 yrs 6–18 mths 3–12 mths 3–18 mths whether he will state, for the five years prior to the outbreak of war, the number of destruction orders made under the Obscene Publications Act, 1857; the number of convictions for the Common Law misdemeanour of obscene libel; the number of articles destroyed and the aggregate amount of the fines annually imposed; the range of sentences imposed; and the number of prosecutions in either category brought with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions;
(2) whether he will state, for the past five years, the number of destruction orders made under the Obscene Publications Act, 1857; the number of convictions for the Common Law misdemeanour of obscene libel; the number of articles destroyed and the aggregate amount of the fines annually imposed; the range of sentences imposed; and the number of prosecutions in either category brought with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
§ Major Lloyd-GeorgeThe following are the figures. The consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions is not required for these proceedings.