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Abstract
Revenge Pornography is an umbrella term used to encompass the crime of distributing nonconsensual sexualized images of an individual. This crime became highly popularized during the latter half of the twentieth century and has continued to plague the internet into the twenty-first century. Nonetheless, despite the overwhelming abundance of this issue in the country, there are inconsistencies in regulating revenge porn among the fifty states and the District of Columbia. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between state political party affiliations and their respective stance on revenge porn laws to pinpoint where these inconsistencies lie. To do so, two maps were created; the first cross-examines state political affiliations against the differing statute terminology addressing revenge pornography along with the severity of the criminal punishment that follows. The results yielded that the most commonly associated state statute term among all fifty states regardless of party affiliation is the “Dissemination of Non-Consensual Pornography”. Additionally, the first map demonstrated that Democratic and Republican-associated states treat the crime as a misdemeanor while politically competitive states treat it as a felony. The second map analyzed the connections between state political affiliations in relation to whether criminal and civil liability were provided and if injunctions are allowed by the state to remove revenge pornography. This map illustrated how although most states only offer criminal liability for revenge porn, the states that provide both civil and criminal liability are more like to come from a politically competitive state and additionally support injunctions for said crime.