"Under the new guidelines, police and prosecutors should take a broader view of what constitutes abuse than a man being violent towards his wife or girlfriend in the home, and should be more open-minded on who victims may be."
"The change is likely to see more women charged with offences against their husbands and boyfriends, and abusive partners in gay and lesbian relationships will also be targeted."
"Children who abuse their elderly parents and even teenage gang members who bully others could be prosecuted."
"The much broader definitions around domestic abuse are intended to reflect modern society and improve low conviction rates."
All of these things are excellent to hear. A lot people have outdated views on what constitutes abuse meaning a lot of victims cannot seek help, or the resources to help them don't exist in the first place. I was a bit cautious after reading the title so I was pleased to see these quotes as I opened the thread.
As far as "revenge porn" goes, I agree it's a rotten thing to do to someone. On the one hand I think the wider public should be more open minded about people sending explicit pictures to their partners such that having them leaked doesn't cause damage in the first place, but there's no excuse for vindictive exes leaking them. However the crime sounds like one with a lot of nuances that might make it very difficult to successfully prosecute someone or make it too easy for innocents to be punished.
For example, in order to successfully prosecute someone for releasing their ex-partner's private photos on the internet, you'd have to prove that it was actually them who released them. Of course the original recipient would be the prime suspect but it doesn't rule out the possibility of others taking them from either person's phone (eg if someone sent their phone in for repairs and a dodgy employee snooped around the phone's memory and copied them). It also doesn't rule out the possibility that the person who sent them (who would obviously have retained copies of the photos) deliberately put their own nudes online and blamed it on their ex to get them in trouble. Abusive relationships can lead to messy break ups and I don't think it's far out of the question that an abusive partner could frame their ex in this way.
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