It looks like South Australia is set to criminalise revenge porn, with newly drafted laws released by Attorney-General John Rau that propose a maximum penalty of $10,000 or two years jail time to anyone threatening to distribute a sexual image (of a minor), or $5,000 or 12 months jail if the image is of an adult.
The move come six months after over 400 Adelaide women had their nudes published by some absolute fuck-monkey on a US-based revenge porn website, which led us down a road of debating WHY, ffs, isn’t this illegal yet?
“Young people in particular need to understand that if they take a naked selfie and share it with one person, that image might be shared with hundreds, possibly thousands of other people,” the Attorney-General said, which you could also rewrite as: “Young people in particular need to understand that sharing a naked selfie someone has sent you in trust is not only the lowest of dick moves, but will soon (hopefully) be a criminal act.”
The proposed changes will also protect under-18s who sext from being lumped into the same category as child sex offenders, saving them from both being charged with child pornography charges and being listed on the Child Sex Offender Register.
Instead, a new filming and sexting offence would be created to deal with these incidences, one which carries a maximum fine of $20,000 or four years jail.
“I don’t expect all of these things [revenge porn cases] to go into the courts,” said Mr Rau, saying that it will be up to the police to decide whether or not to prosecute. “If they [the police] come to the view that the matter is trifling or is of a minor nature, they have a discretion about it whether it is in the public interest to prosecute.”
The proposed legislation is still to be debated, with a discussion paper set to be released early next year.
Story: ABC / Adelaide Now.
Photo: source.
