A Response of Criminal Law to Upskirting in the Age of Misdemeanors
In the current digital age which is characterized by advanced technology and prevalent social media usage,upskirting has emerged as a significant global social issue.Various countries,including the United Kingdom and Germany,as well as regions such as Hong Kong,have established and implemented specific criminal laws to ad-dress this behavior.However,in mainland China,there are no direct legal provisions targeting upskirting.Conse-quently,such actions are often classified as administrative offenses under the Law on Penalties for the Administration of Public Security.Theoretically,upskirting may infringe on personal or collective interests.Offenses against per-sonal interests could include"insult","forced indecency"or"infringement of personal information".Meanwhile,those violating collective interests might be categorized as"distributing obscene materials","illegally using special-ized devices for eavesdropping or unauthorized photography",or"disturbing public order".Nonetheless,these ex-isting legal frameworks fail to adequately address the nuances of typical upskirting behaviors.Taking into account the current legal landscape in mainland China,prevailing societal conditions,and international legislative practices,this article advocates for the incorporation of a new misdemeanor offense titled"taking and distributing images of private parts"into the Criminal Code.This proposed provision aligns with an"active perspective on criminal law",aiming to safeguard an individual's right to sexual privacy.Additionally,it is essential that the language of this pro-vision adheres to the principles of necessity,typology,clarity,and harmonization required by criminal legislation.
misdemeanorupskirtingprivate partsprivate imagessexual privacycriminal law
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