The Ministry of Justice announced this week that the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill – currently at the report stage in the House of Lords – will make revenge porn “a specific offence”.
The debate surrounding revenge porn and the legal response to it has bubbled on for some time now, and my initial reaction as to whether or not there is a need to legislate against revenge porn was to look to existing laws. I abhor the way in which successive governments have used the criminal law as a political football to score cheap points in the eyes of the public and press, at the expense of us all – taxpayer, victim and defendant. In 2013 alone, there were 398 pieces of primary and secondary legislation containing the words “crime” or “criminal”.
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