You may not know what sexting is,
but if you have kids approaching their teens, you'll soon find out. The latest
craze sweeping our teens involves sending nude photos of themselves to
friends--a.k.a. 'sexting.' Is it appropriate? No. But is it pornography?
Depends who you ask. A teenage boy
is facing felony obscenity charges in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after sending a
picture of his privates to female classmates. Another boy was charged with
child pornography for a similar incident. In Greensburg, Pennsylvania, three
girls who sent photos and the four boys who received them were all charged with
child pornography.
Michael McAlexander, the prosecutor
in the Fort Wayne case, insists, "We don't want to throw these kids in
jail. But we want them to think."
But is this the best way to do it?
Shouldn't child pornography charges be reserved for the worst of the sex
offenders? Should the naivety of a child really leave a sex offender charge on
his or her record?
Not according to Dante Bertani,
chief public defender in the Pennsylvania case. He called the charges
"horrendous."
"It should be an issue between
the school, the parents and the kids--and primarily the parents and the
kids," says Bertani. "It's not something that should be going through
the criminal system"
In Pennsylvania, all students but
one settled for a lesser misdemeanor charge. The parents of one boy are
thinking about fighting the charges.
What do you think? Having nude photos of underage
children on your cell phone would certainly be a crime for an adult, so should
it be a crime for a teenager as well? Or should it be up to parents to monitor
what their kids are doing with their phones?
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