Indiana Supreme Court revives state’s ‘revenge porn’ law
(WISH) — Indiana’s “revenge porn” law does not violate the state or U.S. constitutions, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The unanimous ruling found the law does not violate First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution or the free interchange clause of the Indiana Constitution.
The decision reinstates the law originally passed by the General Assembly in 2019, and revives criminal charges in a case in Steuben County.
Prosecutors charged Conner Katz with a misdemeanor, alleging that he secretly recorded his girlfriend without her permission during a sex act in his college fraternity house, then sent the video to his ex-girlfriend.
The five Supreme Court justices found that while the video qualifies as potentially protected speech, the video also qualifies as “an ‘abuse’, or was, ‘in other words a threat to peace, safety, and well-being.’”
The justices made repeated references to the harm to victims of revenge porn, including online harassment and threats.
“Faced with the widespread and growing problem of nonconsensual pornography, the legislature acted within its authority to safeguard the health and safety of its citizens from this unique and serious crime by passing Indiana Code section 35-45-4-8,” the court ruled.