Under recent Texas laws, a person charged with revenge porn crimes, even if falsely accused, can face the possibility of serious criminal penalties, including prison time. If you or a loved one face a revenge porn accusation or charge, learn more about revenge porn laws in Texas below — then get in touch with an experienced sex crimes attorney. Essentially, revenge porn involves distributing sexually explicit videos or photos of a person without his or her consent.
Motives for revenge porn can include revenge or animosity. Often, they involve manipulation of a person. Sexually explicit images may be used as a means of intimidation to ensure another person continues a relationship. Or perhaps a jilted lover wants to shame or humiliate a former partner. Even blackmail may be a motive, with the threat of revenge porn applied to extort victims. Whatever the case, revenge porn has become so rampant and harmful that lawmakers in half of the 50 states, including Texas, have been compelled to pass revenge porn laws in recent years.
On the federal level, existing laws for privacy and copyright also offer protections. However, some state and federal laws against revenge porn are considered flawed, in part due to alleged violations of First Amendment protections of free speech.
Even so, recent heightened awareness of abuses toward women in the MeToo movement has spurred greater vigilance in this area. In Texas, even before the first revenge porn laws were passed in , victims of revenge porn had legal recourse via revenge porn lawsuits in the civil — not criminal — arena.
One Houston woman was awarded a settlement of half a million dollars for her emotional distress. In case, a Texas woman learned that a former sex partner had posted sexually explicit photos of her on a website. A judge ordered that the site be taken off the Internet while the lawsuit was pending. Other such websites have been established with the express purpose of gathering and encouraging revenge porn, although some of these also have been shut down.
