Upskirting

Upskirting is a form of video voyeurism in which a person takes pictures or photographs underneath the victim's skirt or other garments. The practice has been criminalized in numerous states, as legislatures respond to this growing type of crime.

The idea behind a law prohibiting upskirting is that this act is a gross violation of the victim's privacy. However, some defendants have avoided prosecution for upskirting because some state laws protect people from this conduct only in places where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy, such as in public or semipublic places (e.g., malls, locker rooms, and department store changing rooms). Thus, some defendants have had convictions reversed or charges dropped because they engaged in upskirting in a place where the victim had no real reasonable expectation of privacy.

For example, in State v. Glas, 54 P.2d 147 (Wash. 2002), two defendants had their convictions reversed by the Washington Supreme Court because they engaged in upskirting in a public place, and the particular Washington voyeurism statute applied only in places where a person had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Legislatures responded to decisions by prohibiting the practice of upskirting even in public places.