FL- EDITORIAL: 'Sexting' isn't a crime

4-3-2009 Florida:

The New Jersey teen who posted 30 nude pictures on her MySpace page for the visual pleasure of her boyfriend needs counseling, education and discipline, not a juvenile arrest record.

Charging the 14-year-old with possession and distribution of child pornography - as the Passaic County Sheriff's Office did - is absurd. As is the nationwide effort by prosecutors to pursue child pornography charges against other over-sexualized teenagers who send nude pictures of themselves to each other via cellphone - called sexting - and e-mail. This case also should make politicians think twice before grandstanding on child pornography and the Internet.

The charges against the New Jersey teen could force her to register as a sex offender if she's convicted. That's hardly the answer for children who see nothing wrong with exposing their bodies to their peers and the rest of the world. And it certainly wasn't the intent of Megan's Law, the legislation that makes available information about sex offenders so members of local communities can protect themselves and their children.

The behavior of these teenagers is inappropriate, even inane. But what they are guilty of is self-exploitation. For that, they need intervention by parents, not law enforcement. ..Source.. by Palm Beach Post