Revenge porn has been criminalised and is now punishable for up to two years in prison in the UK, meaning that anyone who shares private sexual images of another person without their consent and with harmful intention, may face up to two years behind bars.
The Criminal Justice and Courts Bill which contains an amendment dealing with revenge porn gained royal consent on Thursday to pass into law. The amendment states that it is illegal to send sexually explicit images or videos without permission over social networks and text messages, with the intent to cause harm
The law includes the physical distribution of images without consent as well as sharing images online.
The law defines revenge porn as “photographs or films which show people engaged in sexual activity or depicted in a sexual way or with their genitals exposed, where what is shown would not usually be seen in public,” reported The Independent.
The criminalisation of revenge porn follows police figures revealing victims being as young as 11 years old.
According to statistics from eight police forces in England and Wales, less than five percent of revenge porn has been prosecuted owing to legal prosecution loopholes.
There are believed to be more than 30 different websites specialising in revenge porn in the UK. On these sites, people can post sexually explicit content including the subject’s name and personal information.
Revenge porn is not limited to ex-couples, and involves any form of hacking into a person’s account as a means of sharing explicit images of them.
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