Revenge porn charges could lead to 14 year jail sentences

New guidelines from the government's Crown Prosecution Service in the UK, could see sentencing for revenge pornography, the practice of posting nude images of someone online with malicious intent, extended so that the person responsible is sent to jail for as much at 14 years – though this would be for the most serious of cases, often involving coercion through blackmail.

As it stands, there isn't much on the books for how to deal with revenge porn in the UK. In Australia the practice is illegal and earlier this year, David Cameron called for it to become illegal declaring it as having “clear criminal intent.” Before these guidelines were published, prosecutors needed to make use of the obscene publication laws, which aren't exactly equipped for this sort of imagery or intention. Now though the CPS is hoping to allow prosecutors to make use of sexual offence and child protection laws, which are far more strict and carry much harsher sentences.

I  know it's boring, but what did you think I was going to use, a picture of revenge porn or something?

“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,” the CPS said in a statement (via The Telegraph).  It hopes that this guideline change will give prosecutors more confidence to take on a case, knowing that a decent conviction is likely to be reached.

Under the new guidelines, anyone found posting images that were taken when the person in the pictures was under 18, could be prosecuted under child protection laws, which could land an uploader with a 10 year sentence. The 14 year sentence could be applied instead or as well as other sentences, if the person charged was using the images to coerce someone into further sexual exploits.

However, some claim that these guidelines aren”t enough and that a revenge porn law needs to be written to address this practice specifically.

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KitGuru Says: I really hope these guidelines weren't issued just because of the celebrity “fappening,” scandal. People are targeted with revenge porn tactics all the time and yet it only seems to have captured much public attention when it affected celebrities. 

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