Malicious Sexting Is Now Illegal In Victoria

Thinking about snapping a shot of someone else in the nude and sending it to a mate for a joke? Stop laughing: that sort of thing could land you on the sex offender register in the state of Victoria from today.

We’ve talked before about not sending unsolicited dick pics to people on the grounds that it isn’t big (in any sense of the word) or clever: it’s just plain rude. Now there’s a legal aspect to it.

Victoria has just passed new laws which makes the distribution malicious distribution of intimate images of another person a serious offence.

Here’s the State’s statement on the two new laws:

New offences for maliciously distributing or threatening to distribute intimate images of another person come into force today, along with new laws to ensure that young people who engage in non-exploitative ‘sexting’ don’t end up with criminal records or on the sex offenders register.



Attorney-General Robert Clark said under the new laws two new summary offences of ‘distribution of an intimate image’ and ‘threat to distribute an intimate image’ in circumstances contrary to community standards of acceptable conduct have been created.



The offences apply to the distribution of images of anyone under 18 years of age, and the distribution of images of adults without consent.



The new offence for distribution carries a penalty of up to two years in prison and the new offence of threatening to distribute carries a penalty of up to one year in prison.



The new laws also introduce certain exceptions to child pornography offences so that young people under 18 years of age are not inappropriately prosecuted or added to the sex offenders register for consensual, non-exploitative sexting.



These laws fulfill the Napthine Government’s commitment to implement the recommendations of the Victoria Parliamentary Law Reform Committee’s report following its Inquiry into Sexting.



The exceptions do not apply if the image depicts a criminal offence such as a sexual assault and do not apply to anyone over 18 years of age.

Time to give up your unsolicited sexting for reals now. [Victoria Government]

Sexting image via Shutterstock