§ Mr. Weitzmanasked the Attorney-General how many cases have been brought since 1962 in which there were one or more counts in the indictment alleging a conspiracy to corrupt public morals or a conspiracy to cause a public mischief; and in how many of such cases there was prior consultation with his Department before these cases were brought.
§ The Attorney-GeneralSince 1962 there have been 39 cases in which there were one or more counts in the indictment alleging a conspiracy to corrupt public morals. Thirty-two of these were successful.
There have been 16 cases in which one or more counts alleged conspiracy to cause a public mischief, but none of these relates to obscenity. The Director of Public Prosecutions has consulted me, or my predecessor, whenever he thought it necessary to do so.
§ Mr. Gorstasked the Attorney-General to what extent the assurances given to Parliament on 3rd June, 1964, are now taken into account in prosecutions for conspiracy to corrupt public morals; and to what extent the Director of Public Prosecutions has been consulted in past cases.
§ The Attorney-GeneralThe assurances which were given to Parliament during the passage of the Obscene Publications Act, 1964, are always taken into account by the Director of Public Prosecutions when he considers whether to charge a person with conspiracy to corrupt public morals in cases in which publication of an article is in issue. The Director has, so far as he is aware, been consulted in all such cases, in accordance with the provisions of the Prosecution of Offences Regulations, 1946.
§ Mr. Gorstasked the Attorney-General how many successful prosecutions for conspiracies to corrupt public morals, following the decision in Shaw's case, have been instituted since 1962; in respect of what publications these prosecutions were instituted; and what were the pleas in each case.
264W
§ The Attorney-GeneralSince 1962 there have been 32 successful prosecutions for conspiracies to corrupt public morals, as follows:
1962 … … … nil 1963 … … … nil 1964 … … … nil 1965 … … … 13 1966 … … … 14 1967 … … … 3 1968 … … … 1 1969 … … … 1 1970 … … … nil 1971 … … … nil 1972 … … … nil Two of these prosecutions related to a named newspaper, magazine, book or catalogue, namely "Black Panther and Pleasure Primer", 1966, and "International Times", 1969, respectively; in the first case three defendants pleaded guilty and in the second four defendants pleaded not guilty.