Videos of violent crimes can be used as evidence in criminal court to hold offenders accountable.

Sharing violent crime videos can retraumatize victims and families.

Posting violent crimes videos may encourage imitation, retaliation, or online notoriety

Young people can use guidance on when to record, report, or share violent content.

Videos of physical attacks, robberies, sexual assaults, gang fights, and other violent felonies can be easily recorded and rapidly distributed through smartphones and social media. In some cases, these recordings document wrongdoing, facilitate appropriate help for the victim, provide evidence for law enforcement, or bring public attention to injustice or abuse situations that might otherwise remain hidden (Bayerl et al., 2023). In other cases, recording, streaming, and posting violent crimes can amplify harm. Victims can be humiliated or retraumatized. Perpetrators may gain the notoriety they seek. Others may copy the crimes committed. And viewers may be exposed to disturbing images without context, consent, or support.

Jordan’s Law is a California law enacted as a response to “social media motivated attacks,” violent acts committed or amplified for online attention and notoriety (California State Senate, 2017; Organization for Social Media Safety, n.d.). The law provides that when a person is convicted of a violent felony, the court may consider it an aggravating factor at sentencing “if the defendant willfully recorded a video of the commission of the violent felony with the intent to encourage or facilitate the offense” (California Penal Code § 667.95).

The law raises important questions for parents, young people, mental health professionals, educators, and the broader public. When does recording a violent crime promote accountability? When does it become participation in the harm? What responsibilities do bystanders have when they witness violence? And how should adults help children and adolescents understand the difference between documenting harm, seeking help, sharing newsworthy information, and exploiting another person’s suffering?

Rationale........

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