August 11, 2022
As the world moved toward a more virtual landscape in recent years, partner Molly Reynolds has noticed a substantial uptick in her civil caseload on sexual extortion.
“The demand is huge. It is at least a 10-year-old crisis, and we are just beginning to understand it more broadly across Canada,” Molly told The Canadian Press in an interview—which has been syndicated to CTV News, Vancouver Sun, Global News, City News, The Free Press, and other outlets.
“There are still a lot of people who really don’t get police attention when they do report this criminal conduct,” she added.
Molly continued, saying that civil court tends to be a better option for adult victims who know their perpetrator.
“You’re more likely to see a law enforcement response if it can fall into the child pornography offences, and not just the non-consensual distribution offences or voyeurism ones,” she said.
“(Children) are, in some ways, better served through the criminal procedure, whereas adults, I think, are more often having to turn to the civil procedures.”
When it comes to the increased use of deep fakes and its related challenges, Molly doesn’t think the law will ever be able to keep up with technology and the harms it can create.
“There is a really big role, I think, for the courts to interpret what we already have, and allow it to evolve just as the technological risks evolve. We need to be able to make it easier for people to get these cases to court, whether criminal or civil, and to test the boundaries,” she said.
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