Why is it so hard to get justice in revenge porn cases?

The English Justice System continues to fail women in many aspects of the law, including relatively new areas such as revenge porn. Here’s the firsthand reality from victims and those with experience of law enforcement.

Almost ten years ago, Charley reported her half-brother to the police upon discovering he was posting images of her and other women on a porn site.

Despite pleading guilty, her brother was only given a six-month suspended sentence, put forward for a sexual offenders’ rehabilitation programme, and banned from using social media after displaying remorse.

‘We were granted a restraining order for one or two years, but he never went to prison really or anything substantial which he should have had,’ says Charley.

Charley’s story, regretfully, is one among many where victims of revenge porn haven’t seen justice.

According to Refuge, from the start of January 2019 to the end of July 2022, 13,860 intimate image offences were recorded. However, only 4% of instances resulted in the alleged offender being charged or summonsed, while 22% faded away entirely due to ‘evidential difficulties’.