Professor Clare McGlynn clare.mcglynn@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Criminalising cyberflashing: options for law reform
McGlynn, Clare; Johnson, Kelly
Authors
Kelly Johnson
Abstract
In this article, we examine the phenomenon of cyberflashing, outlining its prevalence, harms, and victim-survivors’ experiences. We then consider the extent to which English criminal law currently applies to this form of sexual abuse. We argue that although cyberflashing can be prosecuted in England and Wales, this is only in very limited circumstances; the existing law is confusing, piecemeal, has significant omissions, and consequently prosecutions are extremely unlikely. As such, the current criminal law in England and Wales is failing victim-survivors of cyberflashing. Due to its prevalence, its harmful impacts and similarities with other criminalised forms of sexual violence, comprehensive law reform, which appropriately addresses cyberflashing as a sexual offence, is now critical. Accordingly, we examine legislation in other jurisdictions where criminal laws targeting cyberflashing have been adopted, and provide recommendations for law reform: specifically, we recommend the development of a new criminal offence that purposely targets cyberflashing in all its forms.
Citation
McGlynn, C., & Johnson, K. (2021). Criminalising cyberflashing: options for law reform. Journal of Criminal Law, 85(3), 171-188. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018320972306
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Oct 19, 2020 |
Online Publication Date | Nov 15, 2020 |
Publication Date | Jun 1, 2021 |
Deposit Date | Oct 20, 2020 |
Publicly Available Date | Nov 19, 2020 |
Journal | Journal of Criminal Law |
Print ISSN | 0022-0183 |
Electronic ISSN | 1740-5580 |
Publisher | SAGE Publications |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 85 |
Issue | 3 |
Pages | 171-188 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1177/0022018320972306 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1253511 |
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Copyright Statement
Advance online version This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
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