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Are Victims Of Revenge Porn Entitled To Make A Compensation Claim?

If you’ve suffered because somebody has posted revenge porn of you online or because you’ve been the victim of upskirting, you may want to know what your options are with regards to being compensated for your suffering. In this guide, we’ll provide more information on these crimes and the legislation that’s been introduced to prevent them. We’ll also look at whether it’s possible to launch a revenge porn claim against the responsible person.

How Victims Of Revenge Porn Could Claim Compensation

Revenge porn claim

Can you make a revenge porn claim?

If you’ve been affected by either upskirting or revenge porn, Legal Expert could help you. We offer a no-obligation assessment of any claim as well as free legal advice on your options.

If you do go on to make a claim, we could provide a solicitor to support you on a No Win No Fee basis.

To discuss your claim right away, please contact us on 0800 073 8804 today. You can also write to us in confidence about your claim online, or chat with us now using our live chat service.

Alternatively, please carry on reading to find out more about how we could support your claim.

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A Guide To Revenge Porn Victim Compensation Claims

In this guide, we’re going to look at acts involving revenge porn and what options are available to victims. We’re going to try and answer some of the most common questions relating to the subject including:

  • What is revenge porn?
  • Is revenge porn illegal?
  • What is upskirting and is it illegal?

It can be tricky to revisit what’s happened and discuss your case with a stranger. However, we believe you’re well within your rights to discuss making a claim if somebody had violated your dignity by posting sexually explicit material without your consent.

There are a number of different laws to protect victims and which could be used to charge somebody for the criminal act of publishing revenge porn. They include the following:

Also, the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 can be used to prosecute somebody who’s guilty of upskirting.

Legal Expert could help you make a claim by providing you with a specialist No Win No Fee solicitor to represent you. They will aim to help you through a very difficult situation and to try and help you claim compensation to aid your recovery. When you’ve finished reading our guide, if you’d like to discuss your options please call a member of our team. They’ll provide a no-obligation assessment of your claim with compassion and in complete confidence.

What Is Revenge Porn?

The term ‘revenge porn’ is a term used to refer to the criminal act of image-based sexual abuse. The act involves sharing sexually explicit content involving another person without their permission to cause them distress or pain.

There are many different ways revenge porn can be shared, online or offline, including:

  • Uploading to the internet.
  • Posting on social media.
  • Sharing by email or text message.
  • Physically showing the content to others.

While anybody can perform the illegal act of image-based sexual abuse, it is often carried out by an ex-partner or somebody you know. It is a violation of privacy and will often cause the victim to feel embarrassed, angry, humiliated or depressed.

Victims are often too embarrassed to report the crime, but we advise that you should report it to the police and remember that you’re not to blame.

What Is Upskirting?

The act of upskirting has gained a lot of public attention over recent months and years. It is a highly intrusive act where someone takes a picture or video under the victim’s clothing without their knowledge to try and capture an image of their underwear, buttocks or genitals.

It can take place in a number of different locations including supermarkets, on escalators and in the street. Because of the nature of the crime, the victim may never find out that they have been violated in such a way unless they capture the criminal in the act or somebody informs them when the content appears online.

How To Stay Safe When Online

Regardless of how safe you feel in a relationship, once somebody else has sexually explicit content such as mobile phone videos of you it’s difficult to control how they use them.

Therefore, here are some tips you could following to try and keep safe online:

  • Always think carefully before sharing or allowing somebody to record sexually explicit content of you. This includes the sharing of content with a partner, online, via a messaging service or in person.
  • Turn your computer or laptop’s webcam off when it’s not in use. You could even cover the camera with a post-it note or something similar.
  • Check the privacy settings on social media sites to ensure any content you share is only seen by those you intend to see it.
  • Don’t give out personal details or contact information online.

How Does Criminal Law Handle Revenge Porn?

Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 sets out that it is illegal to share explicit material such as a private sexual photograph or film if:

  • The individual in the content hasn’t given permission.
  • It is shared with the intention to cause distress.

As well as the new laws designed to prevent revenge porn, similar behaviour could also mean the perpetrator has committed any of the following criminal offences:

  • Harassment or stalking.
  • Sending a communication with intent to cause anxiety or distress.
  • Blackmail (from the Theft Act 1968).
  • Unauthorised computer access.

The police have a duty to investigate any credible allegation that a victim of crime alleges relating to image-based sexual abuse or similar crimes. We’d advise that you report the crime as soon as possible after finding out that it’s taken place. The police should review any evidence you supply and pass the case to the CPS to see if a prosecution is appropriate.

Is Upskirting Against The Law?

Since 12th April 2019, anybody who’s caught in the act of upskirting can be arrested and sent to prison. The criminal offence of upskirting was created in the Voyeurism Act 2019 when it received royal assent in February 2019.

Prosecutors and the police have received new guidance on how they deal with upskirting and offenders can face 2-years in prison and also be placed on the sex offenders register.

What Are the Harmful Effects Of Revenge Porn?

There is no doubt that being the victim of revenge porn can be devastating. Usually, without any prior warning, a victim’s life can be turned upside down. It can have catastrophic consequences causing humiliation and public shame.

The harmful effects of revenge porn can be far-reaching and last a lifetime. Victims could become paranoid, fearful and unable to build relationships with others. It could also mean they:

  • Lose their job or have to leave due to the embarrassment of colleagues seeing the content.
  • Are unable to get jobs because the employer knows of the content.
  • Struggle to maintain family relationships.
  • Fall out with friends.

In some situations, the children of victims could also suffer forms of bullying relating to the content that’s been shared.

If you have been the victim of revenge porn and are struggling, you might find the support services offered by Victim Support or the Samaritans helpful. You can also reach out to us to get advice on making a revenge porn claim.

Could I Launch A Civil Case And Claim As A Victim Of Revenge Porn?

Cases of image-based sexual abuse or revenge porn will usually entitle the victim to bring a civil case for breach of confidence and misuse of private information. Furthermore, claims of copyright infringement and harassment might be possible

Therefore, as well as reporting the crime to police, victims of revenge porn could take legal action to:

  • Make the perpetrator remove any unwanted content and take steps for it not to be republished.
  • Seek compensation and costs from the responsible party.
  • Ask for a public apology.
  • Ensure websites, blogs and social media operators remove the content from their platforms.
  • Ensure search engine providers remove the content from their listings.

The process of taking a civil action against somebody can be tricky and require an understanding of complex laws. Therefore, if you’d like free advice on making a revenge porn claim, please contact an advisor today. They’ll deal with your call in complete confidence and won’t pressure you into taking any steps that you don’t want to.

What Steps Could Victims Of Revenge Porn Take?

If you are the victim of revenge porn, there are a number of steps you should consider. These include:

  • Remain calm – You are likely to feel anguish and panic at the time you find out about what’s happened. Remaining calm may help you deal with things better.
  • Consider informing the police – You may wish to inform the police about what’s happened. A criminal act is likely to have taken place so you should consider letting the police know as soon as possible.
  • Decide whether you should contact the person responsible – Contacting them to demand they remove the content might prejudice any future legal action. They are likely to be difficult to deal with if they’ve already decided to post the content so we’d advise that the police should be the first point of contact.
  • Don’t tell everybody else – You might feel inclined to let everybody else know about what’s happened to shame the person who’s shared the content or to try and find out who’s posted it online. However, you might regret sharing this information later on and it may have an impact on any civil claim you decide to bring. It might be best to confide in one or two of your closest friends who you can trust not to share the information with others.
  • Seek legal advice – If you contact our team of specialist advisors, they’ll assess your possible revenge porn claim for free and explain your options. A solicitor could be appointed to handle your case who could provide further advice on your options.

Revenge Porn Victim Compensation Calculator

When making a revenge porn claim through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme, the first part will look at psychological and physical injuries. In the CICA tariff of injuries, compensation amounts are assigned to different types of injury. To give you some idea of the amounts involved, we’ve provided the table below instead of a personal injury compensation calculator. As each claim is unique, we advise you to use this information as guidance. For a more personalised compensation estimate, please speak with a member of our team.

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Claim Type CICA Compensation Further Information
Temporary Mental Injury £1,000 A disabling mental injury, which has an adverse effect on the ability to carry out daily activities, for between 6-weeks and 28-weeks.
Temporary Mental Injury £2,400 A disabling mental injury, which has an adverse effect on the ability to carry out daily activities, for between 28-weeks and 2-years.
Temporary Mental Injury £6,200 A disabling mental injury, which has an adverse effect on the ability to carry out daily activities, for between 2-years and 5-years.
Temporary Mental Injury £13,500 A disabling mental injury, which has an adverse effect on the ability to carry out daily activities, lasting more than 5-years but not permanent.
Permanent Mental Injury £19,000 A permanent mental injury, which a confirmed diagnosis from a psychiatrist with is moderately disabling.
Permanent Mental Injury £27,000 A permanent mental injury, with a confirmed diagnosis from a psychiatrist which is severely disabling.

It’s important that your solicitor can supply medical evidence to demonstrate the extent of your suffering. That’s because the amount of compensation awarded is often linked to the severity of the injury or how long the suffering lasted. Therefore, where required as part of the claims process, our solicitors will arrange for a local medical assessment to be carried out. After the assessment, the medical specialist or psychiatrist will prepare a report linking your injuries to the case, explaining what suffering was caused, the impact on your life and whether there will be any long-term suffering.

Special Damages Which Victims Of Revenge Porn Could Claim

The CICA scheme allows you to claim for physical and psychological injuries (which was demonstrated in the previous section) as well as a number of ‘special expenses’. These aim to compensate you for any financial costs incurred as a direct result of your injuries.

When claiming for special expenses through the CICA scheme, you will need to show that the expense was reasonable, necessary and required as a direct result of the crime against you. The CICA will also check that anything you claim for is not available through other schemes like the benefits system or the NHS.

Many of the special expenses available via the CICA are linked to physical injuries but we’ve listed some that could be relevant for the types of psychological injuries caused by revenge porn. For further advice on what you could be entitled to claim for, please let an advisor assess your claim in more detail.

As part of the CICA scheme, you could claim for the following special expenses:

  • Lost Income.
    If you need more than 28-weeks off work while you’re suffering as a result of the crime against you, then you could claim for any loss of earnings. You’ll need evidence to show that you were employed at the time the crime took place or provide work history for the previous 3-years. If you weren’t employed at the time of the crime, you’ll need to provide information as to why that was the case.
  • Home Adaptations.
    Depending on the nature of your suffering, you could be entitled to claim for any home adaptations that make it easier for you to get around. 

Again, because many of the special expenses are linked to physical injuries, our advice is to speak with an advisor to see what you could be entitled to claim for.

No Win No Fee Revenge Porn Victim Compensation Claims

We know that making a personal injury claim can be stressful, especially when it’s related to upskirting or revenge porn. We’re proud to provide the access to justice that you deserve and also to make the claims process less stressful by providing a No Win No Fee service for all claims we take on.

In the first instance, a solicitor will review your claim with you. If they’re happy there’s a chance of success, and you want to continue to make a claim, they’ll prepare a No Win No Fee agreement, also called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).

The main benefits of funding your claim with a CFA are:

  • You won’t have to pay any fees upfront. That allows your claim to begin right away.
  • During the claims process, you won’t have to pay any solicitor’s fees.
  • If your claim fails, the solicitor won’t ask you to pay any fees for their service.

In cases where the solicitor wins compensation for you, they’ll keep a small percentage to cover their costs. This is called a success fee (which is legally capped). It is listed in your CFA right from the start, so you won’t need to worry about any surprises when the claim is settled.

If you’d like us to check whether you’re eligible to claim on a No Win No Fee basis, please contact an advisor today.

Why Choose Our Team To Claim For Revenge Porn Or Upskirting?

We hope that the information you’ve read so far demonstrates how we could help you claim for cases of revenge porn or upskirting. Here’s some more information on how we could help:

  • Our advisors provide free legal advice.
  • You’ll receive a no-obligation assessment of your claim.
  • The claim line is open 24-7 and all calls are handled in confidence.
  • Our team of specialists have been dealing with personal injury claims for over 30-years. Take a look at some of our past reviews.
  • Your solicitor will be available throughout your case to answer your queries or explain any complex legal jargon that crops up.
  • Our solicitors will always try to ensure that you receive the maximum amount of compensation that’s possible in your case.

Please feel free to contact an advisor if there’s any more information you need.

Contact Our Team

Now that you’ve read our guide about making a revenge porn claim, if you’d like to discuss pursuing compensation, there are a number of ways to get in touch.

We understand how difficult it will be to discuss your case with a stranger, so we’ll treat all calls with compassion and in complete confidence. To contact us you can:

  • Call a specialist advisor for free claims advice on 0800 073 8804.
  • Ask for a call back at a time that suits you by completing this online claims form.
  • Send details about what’s happened and you’ve been affected in an email to info@legalexpert.co.uk.
  • Or, you can connect with an online advisor through our live chat facility.

To make contacting us easier, our claims line is open 7-days a week, 24-hours a day. The advisor will assess your claim with you and provide free legal advice on your options. They won’t put any pressure on you to claim but, if there’s a chance of success, could refer your case to one of our specialist personal injury solicitors. Remember that any claim they take on will be handled on a No Win No Fee basis.

Essential References On Making A Revenge Porn Claim

You’ve now reached the end of this guide about claiming compensation after being the victim of revenge porn. To provide you with further support and advice, we’ve linked to some more of our guides and some helpful external information as well. Please contact a member of our team if you require further information.

Upskirting: Know Your Rights – Information on the recent law changes regarding upskirting and what victims can do.

Victim Support – Guidance from Victim Support, a UK charity, about how victims of revenge porn can get support.

Revenge Porn Laws – Advice from the UK government on new laws introduced to tackle the spread of revenge porn.

Below, you can learn more about CICA claims via our other guides:

If you have any more questions about making a revenge porn claim, please get in touch.

Guide by Hambridge

Edited by Billing