Revenge Porn (461A/24)
Request
I am writing to request information on reports of revenge porn, or the disclosure of sexual photographs and films with the intent to cause distress, received by your force between 2017 and 2024. In particular, I would like to request information on:
- The number of reports of revenge porn (disclosure of sexual photographs and films with the intent to cause distress) received each year between 2017 and 2024
- The number of revenge porn cases in which alleged victims were unwilling or unable to contribute to police efforts to prosecute the alleged offender
- The number of convictions made for revenge porn
- The number of reports of threats to share photographs or films which show, or appear to show, someone in an intimate state
- This would be a breach of Section 188(4) of the Online Safety Act 2023
- The number of cases involving threats to share intimate photographs or films in which alleged victims were unwilling or unable to contribute to police efforts to prosecute the alleged offender
- The number of convictions made in cases involving threats to share intimate photographs or films
Response
Please find attached our response. Please note we do not hold conviction data, this is held by HMCTS: HM Courts & Tribunals Service – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Please note that these data should be interpreted with caution. Comparing numbers of incidents/crimes can be misleading and does not necessarily indicate the likelihood of someone being a victim of crime. In addition, the number of incidents/crimes recorded in an area over a period of time can be influenced by a number of factors. Consequently statistics on incidents/crimes for one period may not necessarily be a good indicator of future incidents in that area.
Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting those data.
The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of relevance of data to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.
If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.