RESPECT Act

This bill would raise federal criminal penalties for sharing someone’s private, intimate images without their consent (“nonconsensual intimate visual depictions”). It changes the law in the Communications Act to increase the maximum prison time for these offenses. For example, some maximum sentences would go from 2 years to 5 years, from 3 years to 10 years, from 18 months to 3 years, and from 30 months to 5 years, depending on the specific offense and circumstances.

In short, it aims to make punishments tougher for people who share explicit images of others without permission, to better protect victims and deter this kind of harm.

• Who is affected: People who share private, explicit images without consent; victims of these image-based abuses.
• What changes: Higher maximum prison terms under federal law for these offenses (increases up to 5 or 10 years in some cases).
• When: These changes would take effect if the bill becomes law.