Objective This research uses crime scripts to understand adult retribution-style image-based sexual abuse (RS-IBSA) offender decision-making and offending in offline and online environments. We explain the crime-commission process of... more
Objective This research uses crime scripts to understand adult retribution-style image-based sexual abuse (RS-IBSA) offender decision-making and offending in offline and online environments. We explain the crime-commission process of adult RS-IBSA and identify crime intervention points at eight crime script stages. Methods Publicly released court transcripts of adult RS-IBSA prosecution cases (n = 18) in New Zealand from 2015 to 2018 were utilised to examine the crime-commission process of adult RS-IBSA. We analysed the court transcripts thematically at offence-level prior to constructing the crime scripts. Findings The study identified four types of adult RS-IBSA acts including the non-consensual dissemination of a victim’s intimate images, violent cyber sextortion, covert intimate photography, and unauthorised access of a victim’s phone/media. From our analysis, we identified three script tracks and constructed three distinct crime scripts: (1) threats, sextortion and disseminatio...
Research Interests:
The majority of Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA) prosecutions in New Zealand typically involved the misuse of an adult (female) victim’s intimate images by a current or former (male) intimate partner--“retribution-style”... more
The majority of Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA) prosecutions in New Zealand typically involved the misuse of an adult (female) victim’s intimate images by a current or former (male) intimate partner--“retribution-style” imagebased sexual abuse (IBSA). Retribution-style IBSA encompasses abusive behaviours such as covert intimate filming or photography, the non-consensual storage of a victim’s intimate images, threats to disseminate such images and the actual dissemination of a victim’s intimate images. The harms of victimisation include significant emotional distress, job loss, and physical and online stalking and harassment by internet users who viewed their intimate images. Due to the ubiquity and permanence of the internet, retribution-style IBSA victims cannot be guaranteed that their intimate images would not resurface in future. This study aims to establish an evidence base for retribution-style IBSA. The crimecommission process of retribution-style IBSA is investigat...