Dilemmas about Pictures: Ethical Dilemmas Involving Images of (Violent) Incidents, Suspects, Injuries and Victims

• In Event: Roundtable: Media and Technology

Abstract

Citizens, legal professionals, police officers, journalists and so on encounter images of (violent) incidents, accidents, suspects, injuries and victims regularly. This can cause moral and ethical dilemmas, for example when citizens deliberate on whether to look or not at Youtube clips of beheadings that are made and distributed by IS in order for these clips to be shared, shown and looked at (e.g. Möller 2009). Legal professionals and police officers have to take decisions about images when creating, altering, showing, publishing and disseminating images of (violent) incidents, accidents, suspects, injuries and victims on a regular basis as well, for example when deciding on which photographs of a victim to include in the case file, a case file that might become available to the suspect as well. The main question here is: What are the dilemmas that different actors face when creating, altering, showing, publishing and disseminating images of (violent) incidents, accidents, suspects, injuries and victims and how do these actors handle these dilemmas? The goal of the paper is to present and discuss an overview of the different pros and cons that are weighed when facing a dilemma regarding images of (violent) incidents, accidents, suspects, injuries and victims.

Author

• G.N.G. Vanderveen, Erasmus University / Recht op Beeld