Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008

The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 is an Act of Parliament which made a number of changes to the criminal law.

In particular:


 * Section 63 created a new offence of possessing "an extreme pornographic image." - this is the section under which Simon Walsh was unsuccessfully prosecuted in 2011/2.
 * Section 74 and Schedule 16 amended Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 to extend hate crime legislation to cover "hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to sexual orientation".
 * Section 79 abolished the common law offences in England and Wales of blasphemy and blasphemous libel (under which Gay News had been prosecuted in 1977).