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The law on extreme pornography

Content warning: This briefing describes types of illegal extreme pornography which some readers may find distressing.

In August 2005, a joint Home Office and Scottish Executive (now Scottish Government) consultation sought views on whether to make it illegal to possess “extreme pornography” featuring adults. This was in response to increasing public concern about the availability of this type of material online.

Following the consultation, the Westminster and Scottish governments introduced legislation to criminalise the possession of extreme pornography.

What is the law in England and Wales and Northern Ireland?

It is an offence to possess an extreme pornographic image in England and Wales and Northern Ireland under section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.

An “extreme pornographic image” is an image which is both pornographic and extreme.

An image is “pornographic” if it is of “such a nature that it must reasonably be assumed to have been produced solely or principally for the purpose of sexual arousal.”

An image is “extreme” if it is “grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character” and depicts “in an explicit and realistic way” any of the following:

• an act which threatens a person's life
• an act which results, or is likely to result, in serious injury to a person's anus, breasts or genitals
• an act which involves sexual interference with a human corpse
• a person performing an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive)
• an act which involves the non-consensual penetration of a person's vagina, anus or mouth by another with the other person's penis, or
• an act which involves the non-consensual sexual penetration of a person's vagina or anus by another with a part of the other person's body or anything else

The latter two categories of prohibited material were added in 2015. This followed criticism from academics and women’s groups that the 2008 act originally failed to make it an offence to possess “rape pornography”.

New extreme pornography offences

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 will amend the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 to create three further categories of extreme pornography:

• the possession or publication of pornographic images of non-fatal strangulation or suffocation (sometimes referred to as “choking” content)
• the possession or publication of pornography depicting penetrative sex between persons who a reasonable person would think are related or are pretending to be related (sometimes referred to as “incest porn”). This includes depictions of step-incest where one or both persons is, or is pretending to be, under-18
• the possession or publication of pornography that portrays sexual activity between persons, where at least one person is, or is pretending to be, under-16 (that is, adults roleplaying as children)

For background to the new offences, which will come into force on 6 November 2026, see section 1.1 of the Library briefing Crime and Policing Bill 2024-26: Lords amendments (PDF).

What is the law in Scotland?

In Scotland, section 51A of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, inserted by section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, makes it an offence to possess extreme pornographic images.

When introduced in 2010, the Scottish offence went further than Westminster legislation at the time, in that it also applied to obscene pornographic images realistically depicting rape or other non-consensual penetrative sexual activity, whether violent or otherwise. However, as noted above, this material was criminalised in England and Wales and Northern Ireland in 2015.

Section 105 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 will amend the 1982 act to make it an offence to possess or publish pornographic images of non-fatal strangulation or suffocation in Scotland. The offence is not yet in force.