Victoria’s only reliable 24-hour legal service.
Call us on (03) 9870 1959
Victoria’s only reliable 24-hour legal service.
Call us on (03) 9870 1959
Sex offence allegations are among the most serious charges in Victoria. They often carry severe legal, personal and reputational consequences.
These matters are also complex and sensitive. They often involve issues of consent, credibility, digital evidence, police interviews and forensic material. Therefore, early legal advice is critical. It can protect your position, clarify the allegations, and help ensure the matter is handled properly from the outset.
At Paul Vale Criminal Law, we provide careful and strategic representation for clients facing sexual offence allegations. This includes matters involving rape, sexual assault, indecent conduct and offences against children.
Sex offence allegations are among the most serious charges in Victoria. They often carry severe legal, personal and reputational consequences.
These matters are also complex and sensitive. They often involve issues of consent, credibility, digital evidence, police interviews and forensic material. Therefore, early legal advice is critical. It can protect your position, clarify the allegations, and help ensure the matter is handled properly from the outset.
At Paul Vale Criminal Law, we provide careful and strategic representation for clients facing sexual offence allegations. This includes matters involving rape, sexual assault, indecent conduct and offences against children.
Sexting involves sharing sexually explicit or intimate images through the internet, mobile phones or social media.
The law now criminalises the intentional distribution of a sexually explicit or intimate image where the person in the image did not consent to its distribution. If that person is under 18, the law still treats the conduct as an offence even if that person agreed to the distribution.
In addition, possessing or distributing an image of a person under 18 may also lead to child pornography charges.
The law also makes it an offence to threaten to distribute an intimate image.
If you are found guilty of sexting, the court may impose a maximum sentence of 2 years imprisonment. If you are found guilty of threatening to sext, the maximum sentence is 1 year imprisonment.
Section 70AAA of the Crimes Act 1958 introduces a defence for children who consensually send intimate images to each other. However, the defence only applies where the children engage in age-appropriate conduct and are no more than 2 years apart in age.
That defence does not apply to an image that depicts a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment, such as sexual assault.
In the past, the law treated children sharing intimate images very harshly. A child could take a picture of themselves, send it to another age-appropriate person, and still face charges for producing or disseminating child pornography. As a result, the child could even be placed on the Sex Offender Register. The effect of that kind of conviction could be devastating.
The newer sexting laws now make two important points clear: