Zvi Liza, Shechory-Bitton Mally
Department of Criminology, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.
Front Psychol. 2020 Sep 3;11:2148. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02148. eCollection 2020.
Non-consensual dissemination of intimate images (NCII) is a major concern in many countries. The increase in the number of NCII cases and awareness of its adverse effects on victims has raised public awareness, with many states enacting legal and non-legal measures to combat this new type of violence. Yet, despite recent legislation, there is a reason to suspect that the majority of NCII cases remain unreported. Thus, research is needed on law enforcement perceptions of victims and identification of victim-blaming attitudes and factors that might affect legal decision-making. The present study addressed this issue by focusing on Israeli police officer perceptions of NCII victims and offenders: 145 police officers and 160 students, who served as a control group, were presented with a scenario depicting an NCII offense in which the stolen intimate material was either self-generated by the victim (selfies) or stealth-taken by the victim's ex-boyfriend. In both cases, the stolen images were disseminated by the ex-boyfriend without the victim's permission. The findings indicated victim-blaming attitudes toward NCII victims within law enforcement as well as an effect of the source of stolen images. Although officers perceived NCII as criminal and the offender as highly culpable and punishable, they engaged in victim-blaming. This was especially the case for the self-taken scenario, which elicited negative feelings and less empathy toward the victim. The relevance of emotions in legal contexts is emphasized in light of their contribution to the participants' punitive judgments. Victim-blaming in NCII offenses and its implications are discussed, and suggestions are made for how to reduce negative and victim-blaming attitudes among law enforcement.
非自愿传播私密图像（NCII）在许多国家都是一个主要问题。NCII案件数量的增加及其对受害者不利影响的认知提高了公众意识，许多国家制定了法律和非法律措施来打击这种新型暴力行为。然而，尽管最近有立法，但有理由怀疑大多数NCII案件仍未报告。因此，需要研究执法人员对受害者的看法，以及识别指责受害者的态度和可能影响法律决策的因素。本研究通过关注以色列警察对NCII受害者和犯罪者的看法来解决这个问题：145名警察和160名作为对照组的学生，被呈现了一个描述NCII犯罪的场景，其中被盗的私密材料要么是受害者自己生成的（自拍），要么是受害者的前男友偷偷拍摄的。在这两种情况下，被盗图像都是由前男友未经受害者许可传播的。研究结果表明，执法部门内部对NCII受害者存在指责受害者的态度，以及被盗图像来源的影响。尽管警察认为NCII是犯罪行为，犯罪者应承担高度罪责并应受惩罚，但他们仍指责受害者。对于自拍场景尤其如此，这种场景引发了负面情绪，对受害者的同理心也较少。鉴于情绪对参与者惩罚性判断的影响，强调了情绪在法律背景中的相关性。讨论了NCII犯罪中指责受害者的情况及其影响，并就如何减少执法部门中的负面和指责受害者的态度提出了建议。
