Abstract

In recent years, drug-related deaths have soared around the world. Some of these are overdose deaths, some are due to state violence as part of the ‘war on drugs’. Images of these deaths are often widely circulated in mainstream and social media. They are mobilised by anti-drug campaigners, anti-prohibitionists, family members seeking to memorialise their loved ones, and researchers. In all of these instances, of course, there is no question about whether the dead can consent to the sharing of such images, for they are no longer alive to do so. Where consent is not possible, how should the sharing of such images be approached? This article explores this issue. We focus on two concepts often mobilised when assessing the validity of post-mortem rights claims: shame, and what we call dignity-as-reputation. Through an analysis of two case studies of drug-related death, we explain why these concepts are an inadequate framework for assessing what is at stake within the specific and unique context of drug-related deaths. We argue that posthumanist legal theory and feminist scholarship on emotions provide an alternative foundation for legal approaches to images of death, and argue that post-mortem rights should be reworked.

摘要

近年来，与毒品有关的死亡人数在世界范围内飙升。其中一些是过量死亡，一些是由于作为“毒品战争”一部分的国家暴力造成的。这些死亡的图像经常在主流和社交媒体上广为流传。他们被反毒品运动者、反禁酒者、寻求纪念亲人的家庭成员和研究人员所动员。当然，在所有这些情况下，死者是否可以同意分享这些图像是毫无疑问的，因为他们不再活着这样做。在无法获得同意的情况下，应如何共享此类图像？本文探讨了这个问题。我们关注在评估死后权利主张的有效性时经常动员的两个概念：羞耻，以及我们所谓的尊严作为声誉。通过对两个药物相关死亡案例研究的分析，我们解释了为什么这些概念不足以评估在药物相关死亡的特定和独特背景下所面临的风险。我们认为，后人类主义法律理论和女权主义情感学术研究为处理死亡图像的法律方法提供了替代基础，并认为应该重新设计死后权利。