TY - JOUR

T1 - To know or not to know

T2 - should crimes regarding photographs of their child sexual abuse be disclosed to now-adult, unknowing victims?

AU - Ost, Suzanne

AU - Gillespie, Alisdair Allan

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, International Review of Victimology, 25 (2), 2018, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2018 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the International Review of Victimology page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/IRV on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/

PY - 2019/5/1

Y1 - 2019/5/1

N2 - This paper considers the unexplored question of whether unaware crime victims have rights or interests in knowing and not knowing information pertaining to the crime(s) committed against them. Our specific focus is on whether crimes regarding abusive images (AI) should be disclosed to now-adult victims of child sexual abuse who feature in them. Because these issues have not been addressed in the victimology or criminological literature, we utilise literature in another discipline - health care ethics and law - to inform our analysis. Through engaging with the debate on the right to know and not to know information concerning one’s genetic status, we develop a conceptualisation of the issues regarding unknowing AI victims. A rights-based conceptualisation proves to be largely inappropriate; we contend that, instead, it would be more productive to look to unknowing AI victims’ interests. We argue that the interests at stake are grounded in autonomy and/or spatial privacy, and that in order to find a way to resolve the disclosure dilemma, these interests must be considered alongside consequentialist concerns; disclosing information regarding AI could empower now-adult victims but could well cause them (further) harm. Finally, we consider the implications of our analysis for victimology.

AB - This paper considers the unexplored question of whether unaware crime victims have rights or interests in knowing and not knowing information pertaining to the crime(s) committed against them. Our specific focus is on whether crimes regarding abusive images (AI) should be disclosed to now-adult victims of child sexual abuse who feature in them. Because these issues have not been addressed in the victimology or criminological literature, we utilise literature in another discipline - health care ethics and law - to inform our analysis. Through engaging with the debate on the right to know and not to know information concerning one’s genetic status, we develop a conceptualisation of the issues regarding unknowing AI victims. A rights-based conceptualisation proves to be largely inappropriate; we contend that, instead, it would be more productive to look to unknowing AI victims’ interests. We argue that the interests at stake are grounded in autonomy and/or spatial privacy, and that in order to find a way to resolve the disclosure dilemma, these interests must be considered alongside consequentialist concerns; disclosing information regarding AI could empower now-adult victims but could well cause them (further) harm. Finally, we consider the implications of our analysis for victimology.

KW - Abusive images

KW - child sexual abuse victims

KW - right to know

KW - right not to know

KW - unknowing crime victims

KW - empowerment

KW - harm

U2 - 10.1177/0269758018814601

DO - 10.1177/0269758018814601

M3 - Journal article

VL - 25

SP - 223

EP - 247

JO - International Review of Victimology

JF - International Review of Victimology

SN - 0269-7580

IS - 2

ER -