Image-Based Abuse, Non-Consensual Pornography, Revenge Porn: A Study of Criminalization and Crime Prevention in Australia and England & Wales

Abstract

Distribution of nude, intimate and sexualized images of individuals without consent and against the wishes of those individuals whose image has been captured, is of growing concern across the world. Moving from the conceptualization of ‘revenge porn’ in the early 2000’s, through to our more sophisticated understanding of the issues of “image-based abuse” and “non-consensual pornography” this paper considers the broad context of these crimes. The paper draws on the concepts of online misogyny, gender-based victimization, and “toxic masculinity”. The progress towards criminalization of such online abuse, with reference to the recent introduction of new laws in England & Wales and Australia is examined. This shift from voluntary to statutory regulation, and from civil to criminal law remedies has been coupled with new crime prevention and control initiatives that seek to encourage reporting leading to prosecution and educate users and empower victims. As countries successively tackle image-based abuse through their own criminal justice systems and stakeholder engagement, there is a need to learn from and critique what has already been established. Summarizing the approaches undertaken in England & Wales and Australia we draw important conclusions that are based on the experiences of early responders, bringing together several best practices for the prevention and response to image-based abuse.