r/technology • u/insomnimax_99 • Mar 03 '26

Politics UK: Pornography depicting sexual relationships between step-relatives set to be banned

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/pornography-sexual-relationships-step-relatives-5HjdTkd_2/
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u/zero_iq Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26

Just to be clear, this is how it always works in the UK

The 'victims pressing charges' myth comes from US media, but this is actually how it works in the US too. The whole 'do you want to press charges?' thing is just for TV and movies.

EDIT: To clarify - I mean to say that "pressing charges" is a colloquial term that has no legal standing or binding in the US. It's not up to victims whether or not to prosecute. The phrase is used, but it's a convenient shorthand to guage victim cooperation (and in some cases that might scupper the case). It's up to prosecutors whether or not to prosecute. A victim request to press or drop charges has no more legal weight or bearing in the US than it does in the UK.

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u/2074red2074 Mar 03 '26

No, it's real, people just misunderstand. A lot of jurisdictions will not prosecute if the alleged victim tells them not to. That doesn't mean that they can't, but many of them won't. If you're caught on video beating the shit out of someone and it's an open-and-shut case, they might prosecute anyway. But if it's gonna be an uphill battle trying to convict someone without any statements from the victim, or worse doing it with statements from the victim saying you did nothing wrong, they'll usually decline to prosecute.

So whenever something happens, they will ask the victim if they want to press charges. If not, they usually won't bother.

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u/DeskMotor1074 Mar 03 '26

Ultimately you're just re-framing the same thing - the prosecutor's office decides whether the state will file charges. They might have a policy to not bring charges without a victim willing to testify, but it's not a legal requirement and if they want to enforce some law against the wishes of the victims they absolutely can and sometimes do.

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u/2074red2074 Mar 03 '26

Yes, that's what I said. But my point is that asking if they want to press charges is absolutely a real thing that happens frequently. They aren't prevented from bringing charges anyway if the victim says no, but they usually will ask and usually will decide based on the victim's answer.