States Grapple With Video Voyeurs
States try to crack down as they see video voyeurs get off easy.
Dec. 28, 2007— -- States are struggling to keep up with rapidly advancing technology that makes it easier than ever for high-tech Peeping Toms to spy on their victims, law enforcement and victim's advocates say.
Lawmakers have in the last few years begun to address so-called video voyeurism as a separate crime, adding stiffer penalties for modern day voyeurs. Today, in more than half the states, it is still only a misdemeanor in most circumstances to secretly take pictures of a person when they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, according to the National Center for Victims of Crime, which tracks such legislation.
That has led to what some critics have called unfair results: a landlord in Florida who hides a camera in a DVD player to record his female tenants undressing faces up to a year in jail if convicted; a Kentucky teen who used a cell phone camera to secretly record a 15-year-old performing a sex act also faces a year in jail for the video recording, though he was charged with other more serious crimes.
"When you invade somebody's personal space and video them in such vulnerable moments, I think you're talking about pretty serious business," said Jason Larson, an investigator with the Bay County, Fla., Sheriff's Department, who recently arrested a landlord accused of secretly recording as many as 10 women, a which is only a misdemeanor under Florida law.
"You're invading somebody's privacy almost to the extent of any other sexual crime," he said. "For it only to be a misdemeanor is not a harsh enough penalty."
Changing Crimes, Changing Laws
States in the last several years have begun to grapple with the new technology. A total of 34 states make video voyeurism a felony, with added prison time, under certain circumstances, such as for repeat offenders, when the victim is a child or for distributing images. Voyeurs in some states have recently been sentenced to as many as 12 years in prison.
At least two, Illinois and Nevada, passed legislation this year to increase penalties. And more states are moving to penalize taking pictures of private body parts, even in public places such as parks and malls –
