Prior to the scandal in the Marine Corps, the Navy had no minimum punishment for sharing explicit photos without the subject’s consent. They have since updated their policy to define non-consensual sharing or broadcasting an image “without legal justification or excuse [when the sharer] knows or reasonably should know that the depicted person did not consent to the disclosure, and the intimate image is distributed or broadcast with the intent to realize personal gain … [or] to humiliate, harm, harass, intimidate, threaten, or coerce the depicted person; or … with reckless disregard as to whether the depicted person would be humiliated, harmed, intimidated, threatened, or coerced.”
“There is no room in our Navy for this toxic behavior,” Vice Adm. Robert Burke, the chief of naval personnel, said in a statement obtained by Stripes.com. “This new policy shows that we are committed to eradicating this behavior from our force.”
The scandal began in February when the Naval Criminal Investigative Service launched an investigation into a Facebook group that was sharing nude photos of both active-duty and veteran female sailors. They also found that the members of the group were posting comments that included threats of rape.
The investigation led to more than 20 felony cases, nine of which include active duty Marines, Stripes reported. More than 30 additional cases have been sent to military commanders for potential administrative actions.
NCIS is now probing over 100 websites sharing the material.
