Teen "Sexters" Facing Child Porn Charges

[kittle]

Most of you are missing the point here.
the only time problems arise is when pics are shared with somebody else. So either - Dont take any pictures, or if you do.. DONT share them.
I beleive the national laws have clear guidelines about the age of people when they are photographed in the nude, and in this case those laws are being broken -- so people get to pay the penalty.

or better yet, dont get in said situations to begin with (but thats a whole different debate).

 

[the last resort]

[citation][nom]neodawg[/nom]why did i almost get an AV2009 malware install going to this page??? wth THG!!+1 to martin[/citation]

same here, i encountered it sunday night. in process of sending related media to managing people so they can fix it.

 

[Dave K]

Instant Idiots... take otherwise intelligent people and get them jobs in the Judicial system.

 

[skalagon]

Consider yourself lucky xD In Ireland if a 16 year old boy and a sixteen year old girl have CONSENSUAL sex and say the girls mother or something finds out and tells the police he will get a mandatory sentence of 7 years. That means that no matter what happened, even if the girl told him she was 18, showed him a fake id saying she was 18, was going out with him for years he would actually be forbidden from putting up a defense. Our supreme court found this unconstitutional a couple of years ago but the media seized hold of it and claimed that hundreds of pedo's would get out of prison because of it and so its still in place.

 

[NuclearShadow]

Damn skalagon thats horrible. That sounds awfully sexist as well to only blame the male of the sexual act when two constitutional same aged people did it. Also forbidden to defend himself in court?! Does this mean if a underage girl accuses a innocent man of rape the man will be defenseless in court and certainly go to prison?

 

[NuclearShadow]

two consensual I meant not constitutional. No idea how I wrote that and didn't notice.

 

[Guest]

The Last resort:

I was on this site too on Sunday and a window popped open and said I had viruses on my computer and should click on the window that popped open to fix this problem. I was using Firefox too. I almost clicked on it since for a split second I saw my Norton icon come on in the lower part of my screen but had the browser window covering it, and I couldn't read what it said. So for a min. I thought it was a real warning. I then remembered that such a thing could be a trap so I used the task manager to close Firefox. I am glad you guys mentioned this I thought I was the only one to get this.

 

[Dave K]

Kittle you're joking right? Are you actually suggesting that children that are not legally able to do much of anything (sign legally binding contracts, drive, drink, smoke, etc...) are in some way legally competent to be held responsible for this absurd 'crime'.

We're talking about kids... TEEN kids... they're not 'sexual predators' for doing what comes natural with other children or their own age. They're also not 'sexual predators' for using technology they've grown up with as an extension of their sexuality. It's TOTALLY ASSENINE to ruin the lives of young men and women of this... prudish busybody attitude our silly Government has about underage sex.

 

[afrobacon]

Add me to the list, I sent and received images like this when I of under and around the age of 18. I don't really see the big deal people are making over this phenomenon; kids, and adults are bound to take advantage and find ways to do things like this. It'll only get worse as technology advances.

 

[the last resort]

the problem is not the kids; the problem is when the kids break-up, and one of them posts the pictures on the internet, the person who downloads them could quite possibly be a sex offender. So, in teaching kids not to share explicit material, they are also keeping some out of the hands of real offenders.

 

[Max-i-mus]

I don't think that any nude or semi-nude photo of a minor, should be a means to label you as a sex offender.. How many nude photos of children are out there in the ART world... These photos are considered art, and not porn... As all they do is show the body.. Not a sexual act... I'm not out to hit up on some underage child, but if a TEEN takes a pic of them self, then decide to show it.. so be it.. They shouldn't be charged with a sex crime. This is ridiculous..

 

[seatrotter]

What is seen as morally wrong is not exactly illegal (that requires years of jail time and/or being branded forever). The mentality seems to be that those that support such policy would rather shout "I TOLD YOU SO!" at the face of the "offenders" and have them suffer so much more. True, regardless of such policy, the "offenders" will still be able to move on (hopefully having learned their lessons), but having a "brand" on their forehead doesn't help at all.

Looking at a different situation, if a child is constantly being told he/she is stupid, most likely he/she won't be able to improve himself/herself, and may even totally giveup.

If the people behind this policy doesn't want to be bothered in the upbringing of their own child, or would rather shame their own child, then they shouldn't be allowed to have a child of their own. Not only would they be surgically/chemically neutered, but be listed in a no-adoption list.

 

[techtre2003]

[citation][nom]seatrotter[/nom]If the people behind this policy doesn't want to be bothered in the upbringing of their own child, or would rather shame their own child, then they shouldn't be allowed to have a child of their own. Not only would they be surgically/chemically neutered, but be listed in a no-adoption list.[/citation]

So you'd be cool with it if pictures of your 15 year old daughter popped up on the internet? I'm not saying you need to register these kids as sex offenders, but they need to know there will be consequences to these actions. I hate it when people use the "it's the parent's fault" line for everything. I agree it's the parent's responsibility to teach right from wrong, but they also need help from the rest of society. You can be the best parent in the world, but kids have influences from many other people in their lives, the biggest being their peers. So not only do I have to teach my child right from wrong, I have to worry about what everyone else is teaching her. I can't "raise" her friends. When her friends' parents don't get the job done, it's nice to know I can rely on authority to do something about their actions so that she sees there are consequences to going against what I and her mother have taught her. Is the system perfect: absolutely not. But to the people saying there is nothing wrong with teens passing around nude photos of themselves: you are the people I am trying to protect my daughter from.

 

[Cuddles]

The facts are a small number of kids will be "branded" this way and most of them are the ones who have parents who won't make a deal and force the DA to take these cases to court. So, blame the parent and not the sytem for ruining there childs life. These are the same parents who think that it's OK to give their child and their friends child marijuana, alcohol, teen sleep overs, etc. These are the parents fighting the system and unfortunatly the child lost.
The Middle schools and High Schools are all being informed that sending child pornography is a crime that will have dire consequences for the rest of their lives. I don't know a DA that will prosecute a 17 year old with an 18 year old relationship. In fact in most states thats a misdemeanor at best with charges being dropped in most cases. Understand though a line has to be drawn somewhere and in most states that line is drawn at eighteen. At eighteen you are an adult and you will be treated as such. Don't like it well then talk to your parents about moving to some third world country or have them sign a waiver for you to be married.
The real world is that a good portion of these photo's end up in the hands of some really bad people. They are sold, passed around, and sometimes even the private information of that child is made public to some of the worst sex offenders one can think of. Recently, a twelve year old child was taken to a motel by a man who had recieved nudie photo's of the girl after she had sent them to her boyfriend. He raped her repeatedly for three hours and it was only when the girl called her mother and the phone was traced to the motel were we able to arrest the man. It took over an hour to locate the girl and rescue her from her kidnapper.
This isn't the only case like this but this one really stood out in my mind in just sheer devestation it caused.
So this isn't a game. The DA's are already swamped with sick cases and we don't want to charge a child with a felony but we are getting the word out and we are doing it as hard and as quickly as we can. If we get a parent who doesn't want to plea down and say's "We'll see you in court!"
I'll say right back, "Well Mam, we tried."
My suggestion... If you are dumb enough to send nudie photo's of yourself or start sending nudie photo's of your exgirlfriend then be man enough to admit you screwed up and take the plea bargain.

 

[seatrotter]

[citation][nom]techtre2003[/nom]So you'd be cool with it if pictures of your 15 year old daughter popped up on the internet? I'm not saying you need to register these kids as sex offenders, but they need to know there will be consequences to these actions. I hate it when people use the "it's the parent's fault" line for everything. I agree it's the parent's responsibility to teach right from wrong, but they also need help from the rest of society. You can be the best parent in the world, but kids have influences from many other people in their lives, the biggest being their peers. So not only do I have to teach my child right from wrong, I have to worry about what everyone else is teaching her. I can't "raise" her friends. When her friends' parents don't get the job done, it's nice to know I can rely on authority to do something about their actions so that she sees there are consequences to going against what I and her mother have taught her. Is the system perfect: absolutely not. But to the people saying there is nothing wrong with teens passing around nude photos of themselves: you are the people I am trying to protect my daughter from.[/citation]

Just because that statement was in a separate paragraph, doesn't mean it is completely different, even negating, the other paragraphs/statements.

If you'd completely read my statement (and not just pick phrases just so could give your argument), you'd know that the point was to point out the "offenders" mistakes, but not put a "pit-of-eternal-damnation" between them and the "road-to-improvement" (in this policy, it's more of an illusion).

As for the phrase you chose, it is to point out that most things start that way: some parents are too "busy"/selfish/stupid-to-learn to interact with their child to help them avoid such situations AND, if the damage is done, help them understand the situation and cope/learn from it and move on. Just in case, I'll repeat it: "... AND, if the damage is done, help them understand the situation and cope/learn from it and move on.". So what do these parents do? They support such policy in the hopes that scaring the children will make them immune to such mistakes. Ofcourse, in real life, people, everyone, makes mistakes.

 

[pocketdrummer]

High school students sexually active!? WTF!?

Seriously, who makes the laws around here? You're fired.

 

[Parrdacc]

Just thought I throw this out here: In Georgia there was a case where two teenagers at the time I believe she was 15 and he was 16, when they started dating, and had been seeing each other all through high school. However the mother of the daughter did not approve of him and as soon as he turned 18 she had him arrested. Now by this time we are talking a 17 and 18 year old, which under the stupid laws we have in America make it illegal. The kid was forced to registor as a sex offender and sent to jail. Once the media got a hold of the story there was a huge outcry. The outcry was so much that the prosecutors could no longer justify, even when the law at that time was on their side, the stupidity of ruining these kids lives forever. Now from my understanding Georgia has a law, do not know if this is the actual name of it or just the nickname people gave it, called the Romeo/Juliette law. Which from how the news here in Florida put it states that if the relationship started when both parties where underage and continued to the point where one of the parties becomes of legal age, the one who is of legal age cannot be prosecuted as a sexual predator. I am sure there is a lot more to it than that, but that was the jist of it. A shame it toke such drastic measures and ruining of two kids lives before at least something resembling common sense was finally done.

 

[sublifer]

[citation][nom]neodawg[/nom]why did i almost get an AV2009 malware install going to this page??? wth THG!!+1 to martin[/citation]

I've gotten them too, randomly redirected to malware installation sites when clicking on article links. I've emailed BestOfMedia in hopes that they could fix their security issue.

Time will tell.

 

[killerb255]

The bottom line is that current laws, rules, regulations don't take the digital age into account. The Internet opened up a whole new can of worms when it comes to these things.

Before the Internet, the equivalent of this act would be something like, say, having a 15-year-old girl take a nude pic of herself, give it to her boyfriend, then when they break up, the boyfriend snail-mails it to his friends or something...or goes too far and snail-mails it to Playboy or Penthouse. This situation is not as feasible because public exposure wasn't as easy.

With the Internet, public exposure of ANYTHING is easy. The yardsticks need to change to revolve around the Internet. The Internet can't revolve around the yardsticks of the 80s and 90s. The www in every URL should stand for "Wild Wild West," as the Internet is the "lawless West" of the 00s...

 

[techtre2003]

@seatrotter
I did read your whole post and I do get the point that you are trying to make that some of the punishments are more severe than they deserve (if you read one of my previous posts you will see I agree). But I just felt from your comment that you feel there should be no legal consequences for such actions because it's the parents who should take on all the responsibility. Maybe I took you wrong?

There can be very serious consequences to these kids actions, such as what Cuddles stated. Judging by the comments on this forum, I don't think a lot of people realize this. Apply this whole concept to drunk driving. Kids are taught from an early age drinking and driving is wrong (if not from their parents, at least in school, on TV, etc...) but it still happens. If a kid gets caught and gets a slap on the wrist and a lecture, he'll do it again. However, if he gets caught, gets a DUI, maybe a little jail time; he may think a little harder next time and hopefully his friends will too. Does this seem harsh, yeah but so is life. I would rather see that than have the kids learn their "lesson" when someone gets killed in an accident. Same with these pictures, not every kid will get raped or something as a result, but it could happen. If the kids see there are serious consequences both legally and "real world" maybe it will be a better deterrent.
So I guess my point is: register these kids as sex offenders? NO
Create a stiff punishment that may help reduce the problem? YES
Is this whole thing a big deal? YES
To those of you here who aren't parents, I guarantee your viewpoints will change if you ever become one. And if you are parents and still don't think this is a big deal; Wow.