LATEST JUDICIAL MATTERS AMENDMENT BILL DEALS WITH DISPOSAL OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY FOLLOWING CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

The latest Judicial Matters Amendment Bill has been tabled in the National Assembly, following the 16 March 2023 publication of an explanatory summary of its contents. According to a memorandum on the Bill’s objects, the amendments proposed ‘are intended to address practical and technical issues of a non-contentious nature’.

This notwithstanding, according to the memorandum they include an amendment to section 66 of the ‘Sexual Offences Amendment Act’ with the aim of regulating ‘provisions dealing with the confidentiality and destruction of child pornography’. This appears to be a reference to section 66 (national instructions and directives) of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences & Related Matters) Amendment Act of 2007. Apparently, ‘Chapter 3 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which deals with the disposal of an article after seizure and forfeiture to the State, does not adequately address access to, disclosure of, or disposal of child pornography’.

In that context, the memorandum refers to a ruling handed down by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) requiring ‘specific measures’ to be in place so that, once criminal proceedings have been finalised, the child pornography concerned is ‘adequately disposed of’.

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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