Revenge Porn Incidents and Arrest Statistics 2018 to 2021
Keywords
Calendar, Year, Revenge, Porn, Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, Section 33, Instances, Incidents, Reported, Outcomes, Arrests, Charges, Ages, Genders, Victims, Unknown, Unrecorded, Suspects, Perpetrators, Current, Former, Partner, Ex-Partner, Platform, Services, Photographs, Film, Threatened, Material, Release.
Publication Number
PUB 1268
FOI Reference Number
16151
Request Title
Revenge Porn
Date Range
2018 to 2021
Information Requested
I am writing under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the below information.
Can you provide information on the following points for the following years: 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 through to end of August.
In the event that you are unable to provide all the information in the timeframe set out by the FOIA, please provide as much as possible working backwards from August 2021.
Please provide the following information relating to ‘Revenge Porn’ as set out in the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, section 33.
1. How many instances of ‘revenge porn’ were reported to your police force in each of those years. Please include the outcomes of the incidents (arrest, charge, etc).
2. Please include the ages and genders of the victims. If you are unable to give exact ages, please use the following brackets: 1-5; 6-10; 11-13; 14-15; 16-17; 18-21, 22-30, 31-40, 41+, unknown/unrecorded.
3. Please include the ages and genders of the suspects and how many of them were known to be a current or former partner of the victim. If you are unable to give exact ages, please use the following age brackets: 1-10; 11-15; 16-20; 20-30; 31-40; 41-50; 51-60; 61+, unknown/unrecorded.
4. Please include the platform/service by which the photographs or film were shared (if known).
5. If possible, please indicate in each case whether the suspect threatened the victim with the material’s release.
Disclosure with Exemptions
Part Disclosure with Section 12(1), Section 17(1), Section 40(2) and Section 44(1) Exemptions
Information Correct as at
19 October 2021
Date of Disclosure
19 October 2021
Related Documents/Links
N/A
FOI 16151 Response
Having completed enquiries within Essex Police in respect of Section 1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating to your request, however, the obligation of Section 1(1)(b) cannot be met as Essex Police does not hold all the information requested in a format that allows it to be retrieved within the time and cost limits of FOI.
When responding to a request for information under the terms of the FOIA, a public authority is not obliged to provide information if the authority estimates that the cost of the retrieval of the information requested would be in excess of £450 (equivalent to 18 hours work). The costs criteria relates to a request in its entirety, which means that if we cannot retrieve all of the information requested within the costs limit, we are not obliged to retrieve any of the information requested.
Section 12(1) of the FOIA states that a public authority is not obliged to:
“…comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The following explanation outlines the difficulty Essex Police has in answering your request:
In relation to Questions 4 and 5, Essex Police are unable to accurately extract the level of detail in relation to your request for the requested periods from our current systems. Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not primarily for the production of statistical information for FOI responses. The Athena Custody system does not include indictors for which platform/service was used or if the suspect had threatened the victim. This request would entail manually extracting the requested data and reviewing each file one by one to establish if information is held. To establish if information is held would, therefore, exceed the time and cost limits under the FOIA and would qualify as the creation of data as the results cannot be processed by means of purely sorting or filtering data sources or running a database query tool. There is no requirement under the act to create data purely to answer FOI requests.
Consequently, and to this extent, Essex Police are exempt from the duty to provide information you have requested under the provisions of Section 12(1) of the FOIA. Therefore, and in accordance with Section 17(1) of the FOIA, this communication must act as a refusal notice to provide all of the information that could be interpreted as being captured by this part of your request.
Having said that and in an effort to assist, although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the FOIA, Essex Police can confirm the following:
Caveats:
The data is correct as at 19 October 2021.
Outcomes have been provided for all current recorded crime as arrests are not one of the Outcome Types.
1. How many instances of ‘revenge porn’ were reported to your Police force in each of those years. Please include the outcomes of the incidents (arrest, charge, etc).
|
Offence Type |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress. |
116 |
149 |
170 |
157 |
592 |
|
Grand Total |
116 |
149 |
170 |
157 |
592 |
|
Number of Arrests |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Arrest for Disclose or threats to disclose private sexual photographs/film with intent to cause distress. |
24 |
26 |
33 |
30 |
113 |
|
Grand Total |
24 |
26 |
33 |
30 |
113 |
|
Outcomes |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Type 1 - Charged/Summonsed/Postal Requisition |
8 |
10 |
10 |
7 |
35 |
|
Type 13 - Prosecution Prevented-Named Suspect Identified But Victim Or Key Witness Is Dead Or Too Ill To Give Evidence |
1 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Type 14 - Evidential Difficulties Victim Based- Suspect Not Identified: Crime Confirmed But The Victim Either Declines Or Unable To Support Further Police Investigation To Identify The Offender |
11 |
13 |
20 |
17 |
61 |
|
Type 15 - Named Suspect Identified: Victim Supports Police Action But Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action |
29 |
33 |
41 |
37 |
140 |
|
Type 16 - Named Suspect Identified: Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action: Victim Does Not Support (Or Has Withdrawn Support From) Police Action |
43 |
66 |
69 |
54 |
232 |
|
Type 18 - Investigation Complete; No Suspect Identified. Crime Investigated As Far As Reasonably Possible-Case Closed Pending Further Investigative Opportunities Becoming Available |
13 |
18 |
13 |
21 |
65 |
|
Type 1A - Charged/Summons - alternate offence. Offender has been charged under the alternate offence rule. |
1 |
1 |
|
|
2 |
|
Type 20 - Further action resulting from the crime report will be undertaken by another body or agency subject to the victim (or person acting on their behalf) being made aware of the act to be taken |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
6 |
|
Type 21 - Further investigation resulting from crime report which could provide evidence sufficient to support formal action against the suspect is not in the public interest - police decision. |
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
Type 22 - Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action. |
|
|
3 |
|
3 |
|
Type 3 - Caution Adult |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
19 |
|
Type 8 - Community resolution (Crime) |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
|
Type AF – Action Fraud record filed temporarily awaiting result from master AF investigation |
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
Ongoing Investigations |
|
|
4 |
14 |
18 |
|
Grand Total |
116 |
149 |
170 |
157 |
592 |
2. Please include the ages and genders of the victims. If you are unable to give exact ages, please use the following brackets: 1-5; 6-10; 11-13; 14-15; 16-17; 18-21, 22-30, 31-40, 41+, unknown/unrecorded.
|
Victim Age |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
10-19 |
35 |
37 |
38 |
31 |
141 |
|
20-29 |
49 |
62 |
67 |
73 |
251 |
|
30-39 |
15 |
32 |
45 |
31 |
123 |
|
40-49 |
12 |
14 |
13 |
12 |
51 |
|
50-59 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
10 |
24 |
|
Not Recorded |
1 |
|
1 |
|
2 |
|
Grand Total |
116 |
149 |
170 |
157 |
592 |
|
Victim Gender |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Female |
99 |
124 |
132 |
120 |
475 |
|
Male |
16 |
25 |
37 |
36 |
114 |
|
Not Recorded |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Grand Total |
116 |
149 |
170 |
157 |
592 |
3. Please include the ages and genders of the suspects and how many of them were known to be a current or former partner of the victim. If you are unable to give exact ages, please use the following age brackets: 1-10; 11-15; 16-20; 20-30; 31-40; 41-50; 51-60; 61+, unknown/unrecorded.
|
Suspect Age |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
13-22 |
31 |
29 |
43 |
32 |
135 |
|
23-32 |
34 |
50 |
46 |
48 |
178 |
|
33-42 |
14 |
19 |
19 |
21 |
73 |
|
43-52 |
8 |
14 |
14 |
9 |
45 |
|
53-62 |
2 |
5 |
6 |
1 |
14 |
|
63-72 |
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
4 |
|
Not Recorded |
26 |
31 |
42 |
44 |
143 |
|
Grand Total |
116 |
149 |
170 |
157 |
592 |
|
Suspect Gender |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Female |
21 |
31 |
39 |
34 |
125 |
|
Male |
70 |
88 |
91 |
80 |
329 |
|
Not Recorded |
25 |
30 |
40 |
43 |
138 |
|
Grand Total |
116 |
149 |
170 |
157 |
592 |
|
Victim to Suspect Relationship |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
EX PARTNER |
67 |
85 |
95 |
81 |
328 |
|
PARTNER |
1 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
|
SPOUSE |
1 |
|
|
1 |
2 |
|
Grand Total |
69 |
89 |
97 |
84 |
339 |
Essex Police will not provide any further breakdown or information as the exemptions under FOI Section 40(2) Personal Information and Section 44(1) information covered by Prohibitions on disclosure such as the Sexual Offences (amendment) act 1992 which provides anonymity to victims of sexual offences.
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
The Force Information Management Board chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable has oversight of the Force wide programme of work to improve the quality of Force data. This work has identified data quality leads in all key areas of the business including the Crime and Public Protection Command. Liaison between the Force Data Quality Team and the Crime and Public Protection Command lead for data quality will identify and resolve issues through a variety of mechanisms to ensure regular and appropriate supervisory oversight.
Section 16(1) of the FOIA provides that a public authority is required to provide advice and assistance, Essex Police can confirm that a keyword search of the Modus Operandi (MO) Field for which platform/service was used could be undertaken for particular words if required. However, any keyword search may not be entirely accurate and any results would not necessarily answer your submission, and, therefore, could be highly inaccurate and misleading.
For a keyword search to be undertaken, you would need to provide a list of keywords you would like searched.
The intention of Section 16 is to provide assistance in resubmitting a valid request. Please note that any advice and assistance under Section 16 regarding resubmission of a request does not indicate that resubmission will provide a full disclosure, each submission will be assessed and if a disclosure is deemed harmful, then the appropriate exemptions will apply.