Today, more and more children are participating in adult activities, specifically sexual activities, before they have the maturity to deal with all of adulthood’s harsh realities. This problem is magnified by today’s children’s knowledge of technology and their ready access to it. According to an editorial in the Baltimore Sun written in January of 2009, at least 40% of teens are sending sexually explicit messages by cell phone. This is called "sexting" - the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between cell phones, a portmanteau of the words "sex" and "texting." What kids don't consider is that this is a serious crime that will land an unwary teenager in jail and on the sex offender registry of his or her state should he or she be convicted of a child pornography offense. Ashby Clark (Regent Law 2010) has written about these issues in her article "Children as Child Pornographers and the Problem with Sexting – Will the law ever catch up with technology?"Kids are placing themselves at tremendous risk of being labeled as child pornographers for doing a foolish thing. Sexting is just part and parcel of the larger problem of child sexuality that faces our society today, but it calls our immediate attention because of the potential for serious criminal consequences resulting from it. Wise parents are wise jurists are the key to change, and the only way to restore children and families devastated by sexting.
The article by Ashby Clark uses the example of Holly and Tommy highlight the problem:
Holly is fifteen years old. She is a cheerleader, an honor roll student, and generally speaking, an all-around good girl. Her parents are so proud of her. She has a great shot at getting into college at the local state university – she wants to be a veterinarian. She even volunteers at the local animal shelter on the weekends. Holly is having a good time being a teenager; she has a boyfriend and they have been “going out” for two months now. Her boyfriend’s name is Tommy and he is sixteen years old. He is the quarterback of the football team and is a straight “A” student. If Tommy and Holly stay together through the holidays, he may even ask her to the prom.
One night, after Holly has gone to cheerleading practice, done her homework, and is getting ready for bed, she thinks about Tommy and how he is just the greatest guy she has ever met. She wants to let Tommy know how important he is to her – they just have to stay together, she cannot imagine her life without him. So, as she takes off her clothes and changes into her pajamas, she takes out her cell phone, equipped with a camera, and takes a picture of herself in the nude and sends it to Tommy’s cell phone.
Now, Holly has a big problem and so does Tommy. If any adults or the authorities find out about the nude picture, there will likely be felony criminal charges brought against both of them because Holly’s picture is classified as child pornography in most states. Holly could be charged with producing or creating child pornography and Tommy could be charged with possession of child pornography. If Tommy sends the picture of Holly around to his buddies on the football team, then the young men will be in the same boat as Tommy. They are in possession of child pornography. Suddenly, Holly and Tommy’s blossoming futures just started to wilt.
Even though Holly, Tommy, and Tommy’s buddies on the football team are not real people, they are representative of a very real problem facing the criminal justice system today. The problem involves the premature but voluntary entrance of young people into the world of adulthood.The problem with sexting calls lawyers, legislators and judges to reexamine whether the laws concerning child pornography and its distribution are appropriate when juveniles, who belong to the class of people that the statutes are designed to protect, are being prosecuted for, and convicted of, sex offenses for passing nude pictures of themselves via cell phone to other juveniles. This article highlights the areas of the law that need to be updated through a thorough explanation of the problem as well as an in-depth examination of the existing case law and statutes. In addition, it provides suggestions to help law makers and the criminal justice system grapple with the rising tide of juvenile offenses in this area of the law.
Read the entire article here.
The full article should be required reading for every parent whose child or child's friends have cell phones or are thinking about buying them one. The one thing that none of the laws address, however, is the idea of lewd messages without pictures. This is a huge social problem too, but I don't know who can make the decision within the context of the First Amendment.
ReplyDeleteI think that teens are not understanding fully the consequences of "sexting". There should be a video or something shown in health class that deals with the potential consequences and outcomes that are possible. One important thing to note, other than the criminal penalties, is that once something is sent into the internet world it is out there forever. So these pictures from when you were sixteen or seventeen could come back to haunt you when you are in college, getting married, or applying for jobs. I think that there should be some sort of warning said about it in high school just like they discuss other teen issues like driving and eating disorders. People should be careful in general with anything that can be made public.
ReplyDelete@Jessica
ReplyDeleteI disagree regarding your video recommendation in health. I think a wiser solution is for parents to teach their children about purity and honor. Taking and publishing photos such as these discuss do nothing to develop either of those character traits and it is a parents responsibility to teach their children how to be adults and to ensure they are safe until this point; not the school.
I think the New York statute which was designed to address the social contours of the ever-increasing problem of ‘sexting’ is the closest form of legislation to get at the issue. I understand the need to attempt to resolve this problem by imposing criminal punishments on those who have possessed, created, or published such images that may be described as “child pornography” because this is the most familiar way for legislators to classify these images. However, as Ms. Clark pointed out, “sexting” appears to be an entirely different machine on its own. The point of passing legislation is to advise the public on how to conduct themselves, and to warn of the consequences of deviating from the prescribed conduct so as to deter the deviancy from taking place at all. I am certain that for many of the young people who are bold enough to create and send sexually explicit images, they will not be satisfactorily deterred (though momentarily scared once they hear from one of their friends the familiar “you know you can go to jail for that right?” threat) from continually sexting. That is why I believe that the New York statute, although it does not specifically target the “sexting”, it covers the more broad topic of adolescents sending reputationally-compromising texts, e-mails, and internet posts on social networking sites-which in my opinion is a more grievous issue than just limiting it to “sexting”.
ReplyDeleteJessica and Kee, I agree with both of your points. Kee, I believe that the foundation that the parents’ lay at home about leading a life of purity and honor is a substantial and lasting effect in a young person’s life. However, even for those who have that foundation- the teenage years are years which happen to be marked with experimentation and finding oneself, and being persuaded by friends-so even for Christian teens with such a background-they too can get pulled into the ‘sexting’ culture. That’s where Jessica’s assertion of having health classes display videos of the importance of not getting involved in the ‘sexting’ culture should help in building on that foundation and serving as a constant reminder of the lasting consequences of sending/posting/sharing sexually explicit images. If teenagers can see beyond the “now” of what seems cool and in turn hear about how the behavior can come back to haunt someone in trying to get a job, get into college, or simply developing a notorious reputation that is backed up with tangible proof-they may think twice. This may have far-reaching effects than any law that issues criminal punishments may ever have.