Government limits true crime and protects victims' honor
The Spanish Government has approved a royal decree law that amends the Criminal Procedure Law to establish clear limits on the true crime genre. This legislative action responds to the need to protect those who suffered violent crimes and their families from possible moral harm when their stories are used for entertainment purposes. 🛡️
New rules for podcasts and documentaries
The legal provision directly affects podcasts, documentaries, series and any work that reconstructs real crimes with a sensationalist tone. The legal text determines that, to disseminate or publish this material, it will be essential to obtain the express consent of the victims or, if they have passed away, of their closest relatives.
Consequences of not complying with the rule:- Victims or their heirs may file a lawsuit for damages and injuries.
- The lawsuit may include a claim for moral damage suffered.
- Protection is expanded, which previously only covered vicarious violence cases, to any victim of a violent crime.
The decree emphasizes the right to honor, privacy, and one's own image, which may be violated when criminal acts are dramatized without considering the emotional impact on those who suffered them.
The central objective: avoid revictimization
The initiative seeks to prevent what is known as revictimization, that is, for people affected by a crime to suffer again when seeing their tragedy transformed into a public consumption product without any control. This regulation connects with similar debates occurring in other countries, where the true crime genre generates constant ethical questions about its limits. ⚖️
Rights protected by the new law:- The right to victims' and their families' honor.
- The right to personal and family privacy.
- The right to one's own image, avoiding its non-consensual use.
A change in the audiovisual landscape
This rule represents a significant shift for content creators and producers. Those planning to make a series, podcast, or documentary about a real criminal case must now prioritize obtaining the corresponding permissions. The message is clear: narrating criminal acts for entertainment purposes can no longer overlook the human impact on those directly affected. The law provides the tools to