A while back I wrote a blog about an Ohio teen who was being charged with child pornography for taking nude photos of herself on her cell phone and sending them to her classmates. If convicted, the girl would have to register as a sex offender for up to 20 years.
Well, since then, more and more of these sexting cases have come up, from Colorado to New York to Pennsylvania. With all the uproar by parents and law enforcement over this latest trend, CNET blogger Chris Matyszczyk (try saying that three times fast) has taken up the issue and makes a good point about how in the long run, all this prosecution is pointless.
According to the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 20 percent of teens have admitted to participating in sexting, Matyszczyk wrote. "So what are you going to do, lock up 20 percent of American teens?"
Of course, no one believes that sexting is a good idea. Those photos could easily end up on the Internet and haunt those teens for the rest of their lives. But I agree with Matyszczyk that we have to do something else besides putting these kids in jail and labeling them sex offenders.
As Matyszczyk put it, "Isn't the fact that she has risked her female anatomy being on the web till Armageddon punishment enough? Is there really no other way to educate kids that they might be making problems for themselves?"
Teens have always done stupid things. And always will. Unfortunately, with all the technology we have today, those stupid things stick around for much, much longer. But prosecuting these kids for a stupid mistake with jail time and ostracizing them with such a harsh label as sex offender?
That isn't the answer and it makes an already bad situation much worse.
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Comments
What I find so interesting about this "offense" is that some law enforcement circles are pursuing this with more intensity than other crimes committed by minors against individuals like robbery, shootings, assaults, property destruction, drinking under age, thief, and etc.
January 29, 2009 at 12:43 p.m.Lucycou, thanks for the smile. Yes, I agree the American Puritan and Quaker roots are still embedded in our society.
I wonder if the text photo ended up on the cell phone of an adult, and even if the adult deleted the message/photo immediately would they be charged with child pornography? Because I see how there is a potential for minors to attack adults they have disagreements with like a teacher, principle, family member.
Lucycou, I think Michelangelo, Delvaux, and Bosch would agree and even Benny Hill for that matter.
January 29, 2009 at 12:42 p.m.What's the problem?
January 29, 2009 at 12:04 p.m.What if instead of punishing kids for their naked pictures, we just start teaching everybody that nakedness is OK? Make it not so hush-hush. People tend to not make it such a big deal, or not even do some things, if it's already OK to do so.
But who am I kiddin'? Re-teach a whole nation something so controversial? Sure. :)
January 29, 2009 at 11:52 a.m.