About the project
The research project 'Digitizing sexual violence. The role of technology in creating and regulating sexual harms' explores technology facilitated sexual violence and the growing use of technology by law enforcement and courts.
New technologies, such as smart phones and social media platforms, have become vital to social connections; moreover, they have reshaped sexual violence in two distinct ways. First, technology is being increasingly incorporated into traditional forms of sexual violence, such as when perpetrators take pictures of their victims while assaulting them. Second, technology has contributed to the creation of new forms of sexual harm, such as image-based abuse and deepfake technology.
The implications of these developments are twofold. First, the use of technologies as part of harmful sexual conduct offers new possibilities to investigate and prosecute sex crimes in general due to an increased amount of technological evidence. Second, the role of technology in both traditional sexual violence and new forms of sexual harm have instigated a need for legal regulations of these practices.
The study will focus on three changes organized in separate sub-projects. Changes in 1) legislation and case law regarding technology-facilitated sexual harms; 2) the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence; 3) peopleʼs knowledge, attitudes and conceptualizations of the use of law in relation to technology-facilitated sexual harms.
Method
A combination of qualitative and quantitative document analysis, qualitative interviews, focus groups interviews, survey data and machine learning techniques.
Objectives
The ambition of the current project is to study how police use new technologies to construct evidence of sexual violence and how the law regulates sexual harms facilitated by technology. In other words, this research will examine the role of technology in law and the role of law in technology in relation to sexual violence.
The primary objective of this study is to conceptualize an emerging scientific field at the intersection of law and technology: the technologization of the legal processing of sexual violence and the criminalization of technology-facilitated sexual harms. Secondary objectives include: 1) providing new and policy-relevant knowledge on the potentials and limits of technology in the investigation and prosecution of sexual harms; and 2) understanding how law may protect people from sexual harms.
Sub-projects
1. The legal regulation of technology-facilitated sexual violence
The purpose of sub-project is to investigate the criminalization of technology-facilitated sexual violence through an analysis of policy documents, legislation, and case law. The data material includes policy documents concerning the criminalization of technology-facilitated sexual harms, the penal code and its preparatory work, and court verdicts that include sexual violations facilitated by technology. A central question is how do the new sexual harms challenge the technology-neutral legislation, and how does the new technology-specific legislation protect people from new sexual harms?
2. Digital evidence in the police investigation and legal prosecution of (technology-facilitated) sexual violence
The purpose of sub-project 2 is to investigate how technology can be used to construct evidence in the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence. The study consists of focus group interviews with experienced police investigators, digital forensic investigators, investigation managers, and prosecutors and a qualitative document analysis of court verdicts that include digital evidence. A central question is how do new technologies enable and transform the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence?
3. People’s legal consciousness in relation to technology-facilitated sexual violence
The purpose of sub-project 3 is to investigate people’s legal consciousness and legal mobilization in relation to technology-facilitated sexual harms. The study consists of interviews and survey data. A central question is how do young people involved in technology-facilitated sexual violence perceive and experience the harm and legality of such harms?
Please contact Synnøve Aursand Pedersen for questions regarding this sub-project or visit the project website: 'Image-Based Sexual Abuse: Experiences and the Relationship between Law, Digital Platforms & Justice'.
