Should teens be charged with possessing or distributing child pornography under the new sexting laws passed by so many states?

Distributing child pornography somehow doesn't seem like the correct charge when the perpetrator is also a child. They aren't doing it for the same reasons an adult would, and they are usually sending it other children. I'm not saying it's right, or that they shouldn't be punished, but being life-long sex offenders with a crime against a child on their record doesn't somehow seem right.

Those labels are meant to warn us about a different type of person entirely. A kid who sends a naked picture of their girlfriend to their buddy to brag or to be a jerk, or a kid sending naked pictures of themselves to their boyfriend or girlfriend, is not a sexual predator who is always going to be a risk to children, in the way that a child molester is. The crime is really more along the lines of harassment, the way it would be if an adult was sending pictures of another adult.

These kids are also not thinking. Their brains aren't fully developed and they're so caught up in their teen drama that they aren't thinking "oh, this is a sex crime" or "this will follow us for the rest of our lives. " I'm not a fan of coddling kids, but I do think the circumstances need to be taken into effect.

Ruining their lives is not going to do a thing for anyone. They need to understand the consequences, pay for what they did to other students in a reasonable way, and then be allowed to move on. No one should be able to destroy their life for good at 15 years old.

Honestly, I don't think anyone should be punished for causing a suicide in this case. Before anyone jumps down my throat, here's why: according to the law, you are only responsible for a death if you should have _reasonably_ known that your actions would cause said death. Suicide is not a reasonable reaction to seeing a naked picture of yourself on the wall in the bathroom.

That is a horrible, horrible situation, but no reasonable person would kill themselves over it. Teenagers are hormonal and unpredictable, but the student who sent and/or posted the picture could not have known that would happen. As such, they should be punished, but not treated as if they had caused the death.

What really irks me is that prosecutors are going after kids who took pictures of themselves and sent them to their boyfriends/girlfriends. The kid who gets arrested is actually legally the perpetrator AND the victim. What good does that do?!

The kid is embarrassed, they have to live with the consequences forever since it may be impossible to delete every copy of the picture, and their parents can handle the situation. Sexting is a serious issue, but it's a serious parenting issue. Some politician is trying to make a career off of these poor kids.

youtube.com/watch?v=GOfp0aZxy4c Possessing and distributing child pornography is exactly what they are doing and I have no problem with prosecuting attorneys doing their job and charging them. It seems unfair to prosecute some folks but not others for the same crime. These pictures end up in all sorts of places, including being distributed over the internet.

Of course the person who took the picture and sent it out is criminally responsible. A crime that causes someone to commit suicide OUGHT to be taken seriously, I would hope. Teens are not stupid, although they sometimes do stupid things.

If a teen thinks it is a smart thing to do to possess and distribute child pornography after being told, and believe me, they've been told, then they are taking their own chances, much as a teen who drinks and drives takes the risk of killing himself or someone else, or going to jail. We shouldn't be picking and choosing which laws to enforce and which ones not to enforce. The idea that the police or the courts will give me a second chance may be what our children have come to expect if they attend schools or have parents who never hold them accountable for anything, but in the real world, as Baretta used to say, don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

youtube.com/watch?v=qRa9uhiAPBs.

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