Abstract
This article presents the novel conceptualization of the unknowing victim (UV) and addresses the ethical ramifications of this status. Criminology and victimology have primarily focused on ...knowing victims, but certain crimes occur without the victim’s detection (e.g. sexual assault of an unconscious victim). There is a critical liminal dimension to UV’s status: they are on the threshold between unawareness and conscious awareness of their status as victims of crime and are thus situated on the brink of experiencing harm through their own discovery, or someone else’s disclosure, of the crime committed against them. We call for the recognition of UVs and the temporalities of their embodied experiences, and argue that there is an ethical imperative to prioritize their lived experience.
The 'Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019' amended the 'Sexual Offences Act 2003' to introduce a new offence that would seek to tackle so-called ‘upskirting’. Whilst it originated as a Private Members Bill, ...it was quickly taken over by the Government following a backbench blocking manoeuvre. The Act ostensibly seeks to fill a loophole that exists within the law and to protect the sexual autonomy and inherent dignity of women. Instead, I will argue, the legislation deals with a niche area and is a wasted opportunity. Parliament chose to kick the issue into the long grass, from where it will be difficult to recover, with parliamentary time likely to be scarce over the coming years.
This article explores the situation in which a victim who has been identified during a criminal justice investigation is unaware of the crime committed against them. We argue that unknowing victims ...possess a unique vulnerability because discovering their victim status is highly likely to have harmful effects. Where law enforcement officers (LEOs) remain unaware of the victim's knowledge of the crime, this should be perceived as a clue to potential vulnerability. Any subsequent disclosure of the crime to an unknowing victim is an external intervention that exposes them to the risk of harm, thereby raising significant ethical questions. Yet the ethical ramifications of disclosure are not considered in the policing literature and there is no specific professional guidance in England and Wales (and beyond) on this situation. Focusing on two of the primary crime contexts in which a victim can be unknowing (sexual offences and fraud), we scrutinise the ethical issues surrounding LEOs disclosing to an unknowing victim, aligning our analysis with the College of Policing's Code of Ethics and vulnerability-related risks guidelines, and a therapeutic jurisprudence approach to policing.
Child pornography Gillespie, Alisdair A.
Information & communications technology law,
01/2018, Letnik:
27, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Child pornography is not necessarily thought of as an example of dangerous speech, but rather it is considered a type of child sexual abuse. However, whilst the law was initially based on the ...protection of children, it has gradually moved away from this concept and it now arguably covers material that is not harmful. This article will consider what constitutes child pornography under English law and assess where there is potential under and over-criminalisation. It suggests that there should be reform of the law to return it to focus on the protection of children.
This paper considers the unexplored question of whether unaware crime victims have rights or interests in knowing and not knowing information pertaining to the crime(s) committed against them. Our ...specific focus is on whether crimes regarding abusive images should be disclosed to the now-adult victims of child sexual abuse who feature in them. Because these issues have not been addressed in the victimology or criminological literature, we utilise literature in another discipline – healthcare ethics and law – to inform our analysis. Through engaging with the debate on the right to know and not to know information concerning one’s genetic status, we develop a conceptualisation of the issues regarding unknowing abusive image victims. A rights-based conceptualisation proves to be largely inappropriate; we contend that, instead, it would be more productive to look to unknowing abusive image victims’ interests. We argue that the interests at stake are grounded in autonomy and/or spatial privacy, and that to find a way to resolve the disclosure dilemma, these interests must be considered alongside consequentialist concerns; disclosing information regarding abusive images could empower now-adult victims but could well cause them (further) harm. Finally, we consider the implications of our analysis for victimology.
The Electronic Spanish Prisoner Gillespie, Alisdair A
Journal of criminal law (Hertford),
06/2017, Letnik:
81, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This article considers the issue of romance frauds, a form of behaviour that has recently gathered significant public attention. A romance fraud operates by persuading a person to believe they are in ...a legitimate romance and then using that romance to extract money, gifts or other financial rewards from them. The emotional consequences of romance fraud can be significant, with victims often experiencing feelings akin to grief. This paper considers whether such behaviour should be considered a financial crime or whether the behaviour inherent within it means that it should be considered an offence against the person.
International law has led to many countries changing the definition of 'child pornography' to include adolescents above the age of consent but below the age of majority. At the same time, ...technological change has led to personal photographic devices (most notably the ubiquitous camera phone) becoming common-place and adolescents are participating in behaviour known as 'sexting'.Whilst there are different versions of this behaviour, one form is where an adolescent freely takes a sexualised photograph of himself or herself and sends it to another. Theoretically, this could breach child pornography laws but it is argued here that it is an expression of the adolescent's sexual identity and thus protected by Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Research has demonstrated that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can be used to bully and harass children on-line. Cyber-bullying and harassment can be deeply traumatic to the victim ...and can cause psychological harm. This article assesses possible legal solutions to this problem. The emphasis is on the criminal law, the more normal solution to the infliction of harm and distress to an individual. However, the article also examines whether the civil law provides assistance in this sphere.
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