The RESPECT Act significantly increases criminal penalties for the intentional sharing of nonconsensual intimate visual depictions, often referred to as "revenge porn."
Nancy Mace
Representative
SC-1
The RESPECT Act significantly increases the criminal penalties for intentionally sharing nonconsensual intimate visual depictions, commonly known as "revenge porn." This legislation stiffens maximum jail sentences for both first-time offenders and repeat or aggravated offenders involved in such violations. The goal is to provide much tougher consequences for the exploitation and sharing of private explicit content.
RESPECT Act Significantly Increases Maximum Prison Time for Sharing Nonconsensual Intimate Images
The Responding to Exploitation and Sharing of Private Explicit Content and Threats Act, mercifully shortened to the RESPECT Act, focuses on one critical thing: making the penalties for sharing intimate pictures or videos of someone without their permission—often called 'revenge porn'—much, much tougher.
This bill doesn't create a new crime; it amends Section 223(h) of the Communications Act of 1934 to dramatically increase the maximum sentences judges can hand down for these violations. If you’re a busy person trying to keep up with policy, here’s the bottom line: the cost of violating someone’s privacy this way is going way up.
The New Math on Privacy Violations
The core of the RESPECT Act is a stiffening of penalties for first-time offenders. For certain violations (specifically those under paragraph (4)(A) of the existing law), the maximum prison sentence is jumping from 2 years up to 5 years. Think of someone who shares one photo out of malice—that potential sentence more than doubles. For other related, perhaps more egregious, violations (under paragraph (4)(B)), the maximum sentence goes from 3 years all the way up to 10 years. This shows lawmakers are treating the intentional, nonconsensual distribution of private images with the severity usually reserved for serious felonies.
Harsher Sentences for Repeat Offenders
If someone has been convicted of this crime before, or if the case involves more serious, aggravated circumstances, the bill ensures the maximum penalties climb even higher. For example, maximum sentences for repeat offenses are increasing from 18 months to 3 years in one category, and from 30 months (2.5 years) to 5 years in another.
What does this mean in the real world? For victims of nonconsensual image sharing, this offers a stronger legal deterrent and ensures that when these cases do reach the courts, the punishment can better match the severe, often life-altering harm caused by the crime. For instance, a person who uses shared images to harass an ex-partner will now face the possibility of a decade behind bars, a clear signal that this behavior is not just a misdemeanor, but a serious breach of trust and privacy. The bill’s intent is clear and direct: use the full force of the law to discourage cyber exploitation, making the consequences for violating someone’s digital privacy significantly higher.