Comment: A dangerous and badly written law
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Thursday, 26, Mar 2009 12:01
By GM Jordan
Before we start to look at the coroners and justice bill and its potential impact on the comic book industry, one thing needs to be made clear. Any law that protects children and helps the fight against abuse is a good idea. However, any law that spreads its net wide and, in my opinion, is badly written and incorrectly phrased can and will impact on innocent people.
The coroners bill, if it comes into force without rewording, is open to abuse by the authorities and could potentially turn hundreds of thousands of innocent people into criminals overnight. The government refused to impose minimum tariffs on cheap alcohol because it was unfair to punish the majority for the crimes of a minority; yet this legislation does exactly the same.
There is a very interesting fact about how this bill was conceived. Not one member of the comic book community was asked to speak to the committee putting it together. The views of the film industry were taken into account, as was the television industry, but nobody thought to invite British comic book professionals that are admired and respected around the world.
Comic books are an art form, self-censoring and progressive. The educational value of comic books cannot go unrecognised. In print in the UK today we have award-winning graphic novels adapting Shakespeare, Bronte, Shelley, and Kafka in addition to the ground-breaking new works being published. British artists and writers are in demand all over the world. Their work touches human-interest stories and fantastic flights of fancy. They fuel the imagination and help us remember the past while looking ahead to the future.
The UK comic book industry has influenced whole generations and crossed many boundaries. In the 1950's 'Dan Dare' taught children to look to the stars but retain a sense of being British. In the 1980's 'V for Vendetta' warned against the rise of a police state, whilst 'Watchmen'’ helped re-invent the superhero genre. Powerful stories like 'One Bad Rat' highlighted sensitive issues like child abuse without crossing the line of what is acceptable. The British comic book industry is self-censoring and it works.
The laws in place already, if applied correctly, completely negate the need for this new additional legislation. We already know that powers already put in place by the government are being incorrectly used: anti-terrorist legislation is being used to harass innocent photographers and indecency laws have been used against art galleries. The coroners bill - in part - throws common sense out of the window. It is not practical and is open to misinterpretation. Each police division will set its own values.
If these new acts are made law and incorrectly applied, the UK could see shops closed, professionals made unemployed and innocent collectors and fans becoming criminals. The loss of revenue could run into tens of millions in one year alone, to say nothing of the personal distress or loss of reputation.
Below is a list of potential problems and hazards that have been found with the coroner and justice bill in relation to the comic book industry.
The bill talks about children. Can anyone define a child? Everybody has a different definition of what age a child is. The law can't even agree with itself. You can have sex at 16, you can get married at 16, and you can drive a car at 17. But you have to be 18 to drink alcohol or vote. Can anyone stand in a nightclub and tell exactly the right age of the people in the crowd?
One person can look at a girl or boy and say, 'Yes they are over 18, 21 etc.', check their ID and you can be sure some will be 14, 15 or 16. Appearance does not define the child.
The section dealing with children is so open to interpretation it is unpractical. One person's idea of pornographic or arousing is completely different to the person next to them.
Section 49 (6).
An image falls within this subsection if it—
(a) is an image which focuses solely or principally on a child's genitals or anal region,
(e) the performance by a child of an act of intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive or imaginary);
A close up of a girl or a boy (depending on a persons sexual preference) might be erotic and cause sexual stimulation to a tiny minority, but to others it doesn't. To most people it will cause no sexual arousal at all. 'Genital or anal region', is that below the waist and above the knee, or is it just the crotch and bum, bared or clothes? It is not clear.
Astro Boy is a robot boy in a pair of shorts. It's not supposed to be sexually stimulating but the coroners bill gives the police the power to decide. It is their opinion that matters.
Intercourse or oral sex with an animal (whether dead or alive or imaginary). What does that 'imaginary' mean; does it mean an image of an alien, a hybrid or a mutant even? Does an illustration of a demon or an angel constitute an imaginary animal? Elves are not human. In Elf Quest the characters are small and childlike and yet they are supposed to be hundreds of years old. One set of these elves live in the desert, appear very voluptuous and dress scantily. It is imaginary. When I was 13 it was the first title I bought. And when I went to a convention I met other fans, one of whom told me that Leetah, one of the main female characters, was one of the most beautifully drawn 'women' she had seen in comics. She wasn't getting aroused by it, she was enjoying the art.
Tank Girl, a cult figure in comics, had artwork by Jamie Hewlett of Gorillaz fame. The character is a teenager of undetermined age and her boyfriend is a mutant kangaroo. That book could fall foul of this section of the bill and yet it is hugely well known and accepted for what it is – a comic book story, enjoyed as such.
Section 52 (3)
Image does not include an indecent photograph, or indecent pseudo-photograph, of a child.
This is already covered by other laws so why is it here? If it isn't a photograph but it is an image then it has to be a sequential graphic, statue or some other piece of artwork. They say they are not trying to ban comic books but that is exactly what this section of the bill does.
If this bill is about protecting children then this section proves it is a sham, the law already covers the protection of children in other acts of parliament including the Obscene Publications Act.
(6) Where an image shows a person the image is to be treated as an image of a child if the impression conveyed by the image is that the person shown a child.
What? If a 21-year-old character is dressed like a schoolgirl and you don't know she is 21, does that mean you have to think of her as a minor?
It does not make sense; you cannot assume a character is underage just because you don't know. If a male or female is dressed in school uniform you cannot automatically assume that they are a school child. St. Trinian's outfits have been worn to fancy dress parties for years, by people of all ages.
The mentality of this legislation appears to be 'if we label laws as anti-terrorist or for the protection of children people won't object'. People are scared to protest for fear of being branded as unreasonable and a possible lawbreaker or paedophile. They are frightened of being hounded by the media who thrive on salacious stories whether they are accurate or not. It is not a democracy, it is trial by media. Commonsense has been thrown out the window and has been replaced apparently by knee-jerk reactionaries and hysteria created by a minority of the population.
As an industry we don't know what will happen if the coroners bill is put through in its current form, but when I was researching for comicshopvoice.co.uk a serving Lothian and Borders police officer told me online that he knew that some of his superior officers were waiting for the laws to be passed so they could use them to make a name for themselves. That would be a clear abuse of the laws and if it follows the path that photographers have found themselves on, they will be given the option to face a court and try to protest their innocence or sign the sex offenders register for 5 years and accept a caution.
If you were those shoes would you want to go into open court and face a pack of reporters? Even if you are found innocent and the case is thrown out, there will always be people who say 'Well there is no smoke without fire'.
Let's protect children, but let's do it in way that is straight forward and to the point. We need to stop casting the net so wide that innocents could be potentially turned into criminals. Let's have some commonsense and clarity when the laws are decided, and tighten them up so they cannot be misused.
GM Jordan
GM Jordan is the editor of ComicShopVoice.co.uk. He is one of the founders of the Comic Book Alliance and has worked for newspapers and magazines throughout the UK. Insomnia Publications will be featuring some of Jordan's stories in their new Layer Zero: Choices anthology that will be released at the Bristol Comic Expo in May.
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