Revenge porn could lead to 14-year sentence, new guidelines clarify

Title: Revenge porn could lead to 14-year sentence, new guidelines clarify

http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/oct/07/revenge-porn-14-year-sentence-cps-guidelines

Summary:

The article begins on the problem and change of guidance on revenge porn, which is putting explicit images of former partners online. The new guidance is that the Crown Prosecution service suggests it will now carry a maximum sentence 14 years. The guidelines also state that the prosecutions shouldn’t be bought under the obscenity act but the Sexual Offense Act 2003. A spokesperson for the CPS said: “No one should have to suffer the hurt and humiliation of ‘revenge pornography’ – a nasty and invasive crime that appears, anecdotally at least, to have increased as social media use has gone up.  The article goes on to state what revenge porn is specifically.

Key Phrases/Facts:

Ø  “The CPS prosecutes these cases using a range of current laws, and we have now clarified our legal guidance to set out clearly how these cases should be brought to court.

Ø  “Due to the very personal nature of ‘revenge pornography’, prosecutors are being asked specifically to consider the impact on the victims involved.

Ø  “The new guidance also makes clear that the context of each case needs to be considered alongside current guidelines to ensure that the most appropriate legislation is used when prosecuting. The public, and indeed that intent on attacking former partners in this way, can now see clearly that this is a crime that can and will be prosecuted.”

Ø  Last week, figures uncovered by the Press Association showed schoolgirls were among those targeted, while adults had been blackmailed into having sex with their tormentor after indecent – previously private – images were put on the internet.

Ø  There were 149 allegations of crimes involving revenge pornography during the last two-and-a-half years, according to the eight police forces in England and Wales with data on it.

My Opinion:

I believe this article highlights a very important issue of privacy and how it’s changed along with the impact of new and digital media on the audiences. In terms of internet privacy, there is none, as the audience we are prone to literally violation of our personal information, by hackers, institutions like Google and perverts/paedophiles online. The impact that new and digital media has had on the audience is that we have become vulnerable and to media dependent, according to the dependency theory, we depend on the media to be in touch with the latest affairs and breaking news.