Sexting: Dumb should not equal criminal

[Moonliner]

Sexting is the new media buzzword (aka media manufactured crisis ) of the week.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Sexting (a portmanteau of sex and texting) is the act of sending sexually explicit photos electronically, primarily between cell phones. It is practiced primarily by young adults, though it is known to occur amongst children as young as middle-school age.

Consequences:

There was just that report noting that 20% of teens admitted to sending around sexually explicit photos of themselves -- and now, six high school students in Pennsylvania are facing child porn charges because the three girls took naked photos of themselves and sent them to some boys (thanks to everyone who sent this in). The girls are charged with manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography, while the boys who received the photos are charged with possession.

Kids sending naked photos of themselves to other kids, while not the best of ideas, should hardly be considered child pornography in the eyes of the law.

Putting a teen on a sexual predator list for this is just stupid. I'm glad that someone is stepping up to take on this issue on behalf of the kids involved.

Now, the ACLU has sued the prosecutor on the girls' behalf, saying he shouldn't have threatened them with baseless charges -- which haven't yet been filed -- if they wouldn't agree to probation and a counseling program. The prosecutor says he was being "proactive" in offering them a choice, but the ACLU says he shouldn't be using "heavy artillery" to make the threats.

[Kevy Baby]

Isn't "Stupid Teenager" a redundancy? I thought all teenagers had brain damage?

[cirquelover]

I remember reading a case up here that was like that. I felt bad for the boy who had a girlfriend send him a nude pic and now he is a registered sex offender. It doesn't make sense, well i guess it can with predators about but shouldn't they take it on a case by case basis.

[Strangler Lewis]

I think these prosecutions are primarily designed to forestall Equal Protection/selective prosecution arguments by adult defendants.

[flippyshark]

Yeah, if this technology had existed when I was a teenager, I can easily see myself and others I knew doing stupid but essentially harmless things and finding ourselves in very bad trouble. Guess its a good thing I grew up when I did.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

Yeah, if this technology had existed when I was a teenager, I can easily see myself and others I knew doing stupid but essentially harmless things and finding ourselves in very bad trouble. Guess its a good thing I grew up when I did.

Yeah, I was kinda thinking the same thing.

I've actually had a couple of different posts written for this thread, but they all made me sound like even more of a perv than is already percepted.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by flippyshark

Yeah, if this technology had existed when I was a teenager, I can easily see myself and others I knew doing stupid but essentially harmless things and finding ourselves in very bad trouble. Guess its a good thing I grew up when I did.

What you never had a Polaroid camera?

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

What you never had a Polaroid camera?

I couldn't afford that!

[innerSpaceman]

Me neither. Back in my day, us teens just carved naked graphics of ourselves into stone blocks and had them carried to our objects d'amore on Mammoth-back.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

...but they all made me sound like even more of a perv than is already percepted.

Is that even possible?