PA- Nude student pics on cell phones

Are those that create this disgusting child pornograpy, sex offenders? Do they warrant the full punishment of the Adam Walsh Act? Ten years in federal prison, gps tracking for life, residency restrictions, housing restrictions, harassment for life, hated by everyone in the community forever. Are you now wondering if the Adam Walsh Act goes overboard, Yes, our children are the child pornographers, now, do they warrant this punishment, does anyone? This is the new issue under AWA.

11-12-2008 Pennsylvania:

Tunkhannock area Law enforcement investigating nude or suggestive images of female students found on other pupils’ phones

TUNKHANNOCK – After discovering student cell phones with explicit photos of female students nude or in suggestive poses, Tunkhannock Area School District Superintendent Michael Healey said the district needs to be “proactive rather than reactive” to potential issues with cell phones in school.

Healey said the incident -- turned over to police and Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick, Jr. for investigation -- began when an administrator confiscated a student cell phone “as a result of a secondary issue.” District policy allows students to have cell phones, but requires them to be turned off and stored in lockers during school hours.

The administrator “had the opportunity, because of the incident that triggered the confiscation, to examine the cell phone content.” He found photos of female students that included both nudity and sexually suggestive poses, Healey said.

That was more than a week ago. District officials met jointly with the district attorney, local law enforcement, the juvenile probation office and others.

A letter explaining the situation was sent to parents, asking for their cooperation.

Since then, the district has confiscated at least three more phones with similarly explicit photos, Healey said. All confiscated phones were turned over to the district attorney, who is investigating possible criminal charges.

Skumanick’s letter to parents notes the district discovered a “disturbing trend of students possessing and/or distributing nude photos of minors,” and that local police and his office are investigating.

“One young lady, when questioned about her photo being on a cell phone, called this ‘flirting,’” Skumanick wrote.

Skumanick’s letter warns of the risk the children face in possessing or distributing such photos.

According to state law, the actions are felonies relating to sexual abuse of children and to criminal use of a communication facility. Conviction on any of these offenses will result in a permanent record for the juvenile in addition to other ramifications, such as registration as a sexual offender for a period of 10 or 15 years.”

Students also face disciplinary action under district policies, Healey said. In his letter to parents, he wrote that “the material on the (confiscated) cell phone includes pictures and language that would not be appropriate for viewing during school. The pictures are of a highly sexually explicit nature, and have been of female students.”

Healey said students could face discipline for violating the cell phone policy, or under other policies depending on what they did with the cell phone photo.

“For example, if the student had that picture and tried to force another student to view it, that could be sexual harassment,” he said.

Students can also be disciplined under the district’s policy banning pornography, though Healey noted that policy was originally written with print media in mind. “We wouldn’t want kids bringing magazines or single pictures to school,” he said, “but we were strictly reactive to the situation. This was not something we had envisioned happening.”

Healey said phones were confiscated from students in the middle school and high school, and that his letter dated Oct. 31 was sent to parents of students in grades five through 12. “We will also have class meetings with each grade level,” he said, adding that those will be scheduled so that the district attorney or a representative from his office can be present.

The district is in the middle of rewriting all policies through services provided by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, and Healey said it is likely the update will include guidelines explicitly resulting from this incident. He noted policies have to be broad enough to cover unforeseen events. “You couldn’t possibly think of every situation.”

The problem of foreseeing such problems is almost certain to get worse. A July survey conducted by Harris Interactive for the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association showed that about 79 percent of U.S. teens (17 million) have “mobile devices” such as cell phones and personal digital assistants. That’s a 36 percent increase from 2005.

From a representative sample of 2,089 teens across the country, 57 percent agreed that having a cell phone improves the quality of life, while 52 percent agreed that communicating with their friends has become a “new form of entertainment.” While the majority insist they use the phone for calls or texting rather than taking or sending photos, there is an obvious trend of teens getting more creative with technology.

A 2007 report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project that looked at teen use of the Internet showed a growing majority of children ages 12-17 create content online rather than simply looking at what others have posted. The percent of those doing so has climbed from 57 percent in 2004 to 64 percent in 2007.

And increasingly, that content has been school-related. While the original fear of cell phone cameras in school focused on cheating – students could furtively snap photos of quizzes or exams, it has morphed into a broader concern of photos and video shot secretly and posted on Web sites like YouTube and MySpace. ..News Source.. by Mark Guydish