Hopes To Raise Maximum Penalty For Child Pornography

A Reform Party MP has been working on a bill to increase the penalties for child pornography from a maximum sentence of two years to a maximum of six, Vísir reports.

Þorbjörg Sigríður Gunnlaugsdóttir, MP for the Reform Party, and a former prosecutor, is presenting the bill, stating that the sentences dealt out under current law are simply not strong enough for the seriousness of the crime. “The police are getting in on far larger cases than before, and a two-year penalty limit simply doesn’t cover the seriousness of the cases. There are people who are taken in with tens of thousands of photos and the material is more extreme than we’ve seen before”, Þorbjörg says.

The penalties for child pornography crimes are heavier in most Nordic countries than they are in Iceland currently, with a maximum penalty of six years. In a court ruling form 2015, a man in Iceland was convicted of having 34,000 pornographic photos and 585 pornographic videos in his possession, showing various levels of abuse and explicit material involving children. He was only sentenced to 15 months in prison, 12 of which were suspended.

This will be the first bill submitted by Þórbjörg, who has worked for al one time in prosecution in cases like this.

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