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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’.
‘It is abundantly clear that intimate image abuse is not being treated as the serious, and life-shattering crime that it is, and more needs to be done to ensure women and girls are protected from this repugnant form of abuse,’ says Jess Eagelton, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Refuge.
When asked why her case ultimately failed, Charlie stated a belief that her half-sibling avoided justice because the images in question weren’t explicitly intimate.
Rather, it was the violent fantasies and tendencies her brother encouraged in the comments which caused distress and alarm. This included asking users how much they would pay to rape her, and selling ‘completely normal’ pictures of her within private WhatsApp groups.
‘I just think there was a whole range of things which should have been taken into accountability that wasn’t,’ says Charley. ‘Considering what was put on that website, the things he said, I just feel like it was very underwhelming for everyone involved of the outcome.’
Despite the sizable volume of incidents being reported to the police, charge and conviction rates remain worryingly low.
‘I mean, it’s [English Justice System] mildly effective,’ says feminist lawyer Dr. Ann Olivarius. ‘You have to have a police department that is actually going to prosecute, and the Metropolitan Police are more infected with the problem themselves of misogyny and inappropriate behaviour and have all sorts of allegations.’
When reporting her brother, Charley described the process as being suspiciously ‘quick’ and ‘formal’ at the police station.
‘It was very blasé for something where my whole world seemed upside down,’ says Charley. ‘I felt uncomfortable.’ She was made to feel ‘ridiculous’ by officers who seemed disconnected from the situation.
‘I just felt like they just stared at me the whole time to just keep speaking, where I didn’t really know what I was doing,’ she says. ‘I do feel like maybe if they were slightly more empathetic towards me, then my statement would have been better.’
With the case initially brushed over and Charley’s offender cautioned, it would later be given the due diligence it deserved – after catching the attention of British journalist Victoria Derbyshire, who broached the topic on This Morning and shared the stories of several victims.
‘We often hear that reports of intimate image abuse are not being taken seriously by the police,’ explains Jess Eagelton.
