Despite a statement to the contrary yesterday by New Jersey's attorney general, a 14-year-old girl accused of posting nude photos of herself on MySpace likely won't be branded a sex offender, a prosecutor said today.
Passaic County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Susan Greco today said she couldn't discuss the case specifically -- primarily because she hadn't received any of the information yet from the sheriff's department.
"But generally speaking, a person charged with this, with no priors, would not get jail and would most likely not be required to register as a sex offender," Greco said.
New Jersey is a state with various law enforcement agencies, some of which overlap. Most sheriff's departments are primarily in charge of county jails, but some also have detectives who make cases.
This, essentially, makes them cops.
This can lead to successful joint investigations in urban areas such as Passaic or Paterson. But I've also seen more than one turf battle or misunderstanding in my years covering crime and courts.
In this case, Passaic County prosecutors (i.e.,the lawyers) weren't consulted about the charges before sheriff's officers arrested the Clifton girl on Tuesday. The arrest wasn't announced until yesterday.
As one prosecutor described it: "There's a lot of leeway in determining what type of charges can be filed here and how they'll be handled. Once the prosecutors have it, they'll consult and determine what's best for the girl.
"The purpose of the juvenile justice system in New Jersey, as in many states, isn't punishment.
When someone under 18 commits a murder or other severe violent crime, he or she can be waived to adult status -- with adult consequences. The rest are deemed "delinquent" (as opposed to "convicted") after a private hearing before a Family Court judge. At that point, the focus immediately turns to rehabililtation.
The state has various programs and alternatives for minors that help steer them away from further trouble -- thus avoiding any stigma that could hurt them. If they've remained on the straight and narrow, it's a clean start once they're adults. If they continue to get into trouble, they could end up in a detention center.
In other words: sensible responses.
This week's case raised the proverbial furor once a spokesman for Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale mentioned the spectre of sex offender status. (See: Do 14-year-old's naked pics make her a Megan's offender?)
Then came a "staff & wire report" yesterday on the Bergen Record's online site, which said:
If convicted, the Clifton teen would have to register as a sex offender, state Attorney General Anne Milgram said. Milgram said it might be the first case in the state in which a youth was charged with child pornography for posting photos of themselves to a social networking site.
The chorus of critics rose through the day, culminating with some harsh words from Maureen Kanka, whose daughter's murder led to the nation's first "Megan's Law.
"Kanka didn't mince words, saying authorities "should be ashamed of themselves" for grouping youngsters who make poor decisions in with genuine sex offenders. (See: Megan's mom urges help for teen who posted nude pics.)
As this makes its way through the system, it seems, cooler heads already are prevailing. ..News Source.. by Jerry DeMarco
March 28, 2009
NJ- Why girl who sent nude pix isn't a sex offender
March 26, 2009
NJ- Megan's Law mom criticizes 'sexting' charges
3-26-2009 New Jersey:
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The mother of the New Jersey girl whose death inspired Megan's Law is criticizing prosecutors who charge teenagers with child porn for distributing nude photos of themselves.
Maureen Kanka said Thursday that the prosecutors are harming the children more than helping them.
Her comments came as authorities in Passaic (puh-SAYK') County, N.J., charged a 14-year-old girl with child pornography for posting nude photos of herself on MySpace.com.
If she is convicted, she would have to register with the state as a sex offender under Megan's Law.
The laws generally require governments to alert neighbors of convicted sexual predators in their midst.
Kanka says the girl needs help, not legal trouble. ..News Source.. by BETH DeFALCO
CA- Teens take texting to a new level
3-26-2009 California:
A form of sexual discovery to fulfill curiosity for adolescents is turning into a felony
When younger generations grow up in the age of MySpace, Facebook and YouTube, their level of exposure to explicit and sexual situations are much greater than those before them. So what ends up happening to these tweens and teenagers when puberty and curiosity hits?
Instead of reading or writing in a journal about their sexual desires, these young people are sexting. Sexting is when adolescents take naked or explicit pictures and send them to each other.
Now parents and schools are outraged when they catch the kids with the raunchy photos. The terrifying part is yet to come. Curious boys who are checking out the racy stuff sent to them by other girls and buddies are being prosecuted for possession of child pornography.
Now these young boys might face a life labeled as a sex offender, when they were merely horny and curious.
The problem is a mixed message. The Internet has opened up opportunities for adolescence to explore. Instead of the medical textbook that displays the male and female anatomy, teens now have Google. All around them are images that feed their sexual desires, but parents constantly forbid any activity.
While they might not even be engaging in the actual act of sex, they can’t learn how to channel their hormones without facing possible life-altering charges.
Child pornography laws need more clarification. Since the generation that is prosecuting children hasn’t grown up in a digital, easy-access world, it’s hard to believe that they know when and how to convict.
The first problem is the level of exposure. Any adolescent can go online and with a few clicks end up seeing explicit photos. Any child with a growing sexual desire is bound to start digging for answers. That’s no surprise.
But parents and teachers often take the scared approach. They hope to scare the child off and ban them away from thinking, acting or talking about sexual activities. The child is then left on their own to discover desires and often times they will look for answers from their friends.
If a group of girls take naked pictures on their cell phones and then circulate them through texts, what are the boys supposed to do? Just because they are curious doesn’t mean they should be accountable for child pornography. The line is blurry and lawmakers don’t know how to deal with the problem.
Child pornography laws are meant to protect children. A perverted adult taking pictures of young girls and possessing them for his own pleasures is a clear violation of the law. But when it is an adolescent taking pictures of him/herself and showing him/her friends, is that the same?
I’m not advocating that a young girl takes naked pictures and sends them to her closest friends. Pictures could get in the wrong hands. Girls are often labeled as a slut for having sex and sexting could have the same repercussions. It’s pretty unthinkable to see a young person faced with child pornography charges when they are mere reckless acts of sexual behavior based off raging hormones.
The key is education. Think back to your days in junior high school. Students take a few sex-ed courses in which they learn about menstrual periods, the male and female anatomy and reproduction.
Students are taught how they can end up pregnant and sexually transmitted diseases are contracted, but are never taught protection. Instead of learning about condoms, STD prevention and ways to fill sexual desires without actually having sex, the course often forbids students from talking or doing anything that is sexual.
Adolescents are then left to discover on their own. So when a text message comes up with a girl’s breasts, a hormone-raging teenage boy is bound to look. Does that make him a pervert? No. It just makes him like every other average teenage boy discovering his desires.
If parents and teachers taught kids how to deal with their sexual desires in other ways than just sex, maybe kids wouldn’t have to go surfing to the raunchiest porn Web site they find figure out what it is they need.
Sexting is simply another way of sexual discovery at a young age. Just because older generations didn’t have cell phones and social networking Web sites doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have acted the same way. So stop charging hormone-infested teenagers with possession of child pornography. After all, they’re only curious. ..News Source.. by Casey Rowley / Staff Reporter
March 23, 2009
KY- Sexting: Teen trend goes unnoticed by most parents, but could have serious consequences
3-23-2009 Kentucky:
Be sure to join our live chat, beginning Tuesday at 5 p.m. Click here for live chat!
WHAS11 coverage
Sexting: Roundtable Discussion
Do parents have the right to check their kids' cell phones?
WHAS11 Poll Results: Sexting and Teens
Copy of WHAS11 Poll on Sexting
Rachel's blog on Sexting
Click here for live chat, from 5 - 7 p.m. on Tuesday!
(WHAS11) – Most people have heard of texting, but what about sexting? That’s sending, receiving or forwarding naked photos via your cell phone. WHAS11’s Rachel Platt has been talking with teens and parents about the new phenomenon.
Sexting is making headlines nationwide, from ABC News, to Inside Edition to Oprah. Everyone is talking about it. And what many teens don't seem to realize, it could land them in jail.
WHAS11 surveyed roughly 250 middle school and high school students about texting and sexting. Out of nearly 250 students surveyed, only about 30 students said they didn't text, while more than 200 said they did.
At Farnsley Middle School, Principal Rob Stevenson says consider the school a cell phone free zone. Phones that aren't turned off and in a locker during school hours find themselves confiscated and locked up, 30 days for the first offense, the rest of the school year for a second offense.
“One case a kid was videotaping in the restroom, it's alarming,” said Stevenson.
Just as alarming, a new trend called sexting, sending or receiving nude photos.
In the WHAS11 survey, 55 out of 123 girls knew what sexting was, so did 51 out of 125 boys. Even more disturbing, 17 girls said they had sent a semi nude or nude photo of themselves. 18 boys said they had.
“I guess he wanted to impress me, but I never spoke to him again,” said one student.
Authorities will tell you it's no laughing matter. In states like Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and at a high school in Virginia, teenagers face charges for sending and receiving nude pictures.
County Attorney Mike O’Connell says teens, even minors, can be charged with distributing porn, receiving it and labeled sex offenders.
Lisa Kimball is with the Child Connection. It's her job to educate local kids about the dangers of the internet, strangers, and now how kids are playing with fire with their cell phones.
“It’s a serious issue. Lives can be ruined,” says Kimball.
In Ohio, the consequences turned deadly when Jesse Logan sent a nude photo to her boyfriend. When they broke up he sent the picture to other students. Jesse then hung herself. One girl WHAS11 surveyed, said she sent a nude picture to a guy she really liked and he posted it on MySpace.
Many parents don't seem to be checking text messages or pictures, with many students saying their parents don't know how.
So, do you think parents have the right to check their kids' cell phones? Tell us what you think and vote here
We’ve posted the results of Rachel’s survey here and we also posted a copy of WHAS11 Poll on Sexting here, so you can print it and use it to begin a conversation in your house.
Also, Tuesday night, from 5 – 7 p.m., WHAS11.com is hosting a live chat on the sexting trend. Click here for live chat, from 5 - 7 p.m. on Tuesday. We'll have two child experts in the chat to answer your online questions and you can share your thoughts on sexting with others.
A representative from a national wireless phone company will also be here to talk about possible safeguards on your phone to help keep your kids safe. ..News Source.. by WHAS11.com
Why Teens Sext
See video:
3-23-2009 National:
Did you see "The Tyra Banks Show" on Friday? The episode was all about teen sexting, and the few snippets I've been able to find are enough to make many parents cringe.
On Jezebel.com, a video clip shows audience members reading some of the sexual messages that the girls on the show had sent. The women can barely read the messages and many of the words are bleeped out because they are unsuitable for network television.
In the preview snippet of the show, five girls are on stage. Fourteen-year-old Keaton explains her reasons for participating in sexting: "Guys don't talk to you unless you do this. Like I know there are some percent of girls who are extremely gorgeous and they just happen to talk to them, but, I mean, you have to have a little more something."
Not surprising, much of the viewer reaction following the show on the Tyra Web site, talked about how the low self esteem of the girls on the show doesn't pertain to most teenage girls. And some sexters chimed in supporting the practice. Just "listen" to Angie:"I myself am a teen that has sent sexually suggestive texts & pics of myself to boys and I do regret it. But I am not like the girls on your show. Not all of us who have texted have low self-esteem. I am very confident about my body & I actually think very highly of myself. I think the reason I sent those things were because I feel centuries behind my friends. I'm 15 years old, a freshman in high school & I've only had 2 boyfriends before. I haven't even kissed a boy yet. Most of my friends have boyfriends & have had their first kiss in middle school. I feel like they are moving on & maturing without me. Also I think this is partly the guys fault. Yes, I am the one who sent the pics but some guys just know how to get it out of you. The guy I sent pics to has his ways of manipulation. He is really sweet and charming & like a dream guy. I felt really close to him & could tell him anything. I felt very comfortable sharing my feelings with him. Then, after I sent him the pics, he started to get bored & he moved on. The worst part is that this exact situation has happened before with him & many others girls. Most of which are close friends of mine. One last thing, I dont think adults fully understand this whole thing. My own mom said that she understands, but I can always hear the disappointment in her voice. Just because we have done this does not make us sluts and whores. We are all great girls who made mistakes. And the adults always say that we don't need a guy in our lives"
In addition, the Tyra show showed teen boys and girls talking more about sexting after the show, with one girl explaining that most of the time sexting is a joke, a funny way to "talk about sex or how far we can get a guy to go." The boys, though, saw the images as "slutty," particularly when one girl's image passes from friend to friend, as though the girl "wants anyone."
Missing from much of this discussion was the potential legal ramifications of sexting. But they are being felt in many places. "Police have investigated more than two dozen teens in at least six states this year for sending nude images of themselves in cell phone text messages, which can bring a charge of distributing child pornography. Authorities typically are notified by parents or schools," wrote USA Today earlier this month.
"Since this is a brand new concept, it is one that the laws across the country are trying to figure out what to do," said K. Dane Snowden, the vice president of external and state affairs of CTIA, The Wireless Association. "There are a lot of inconsistencies. ... The legal issues depends on the jurisdiction. Every single one is doing it differently. In some instances, the sheriff or attorney general or prosecutor may say it’s child porn [and prosecute]. Others say it’s not." CTIA has been following this issue for a couple of years, Snowden said. In addition, Snowden said that some jurisdictions are saying parents are responsible for the content on their children's phones and some aren't.
What is your impression of teens who sext? Have your teens admitted to sending or receiving sext messages. Do you feel teens should be prosecuted for sexting? ..News Source.. by Voices Washington Post
March 22, 2009
CA- Criminalizing 'sexting' sends wrong message
3-22-2009 California:
"Ooh, look at this girl!" a classmate at Berkeley High School said to me recently, pointing at his computer screen. "Look at the picture she sent me."
The girl in the picture was around my age and wearing red, skin-tight booty shorts and a small shirt that showed her cleavage. She was looking at the camera and sticking out her tongue, which revealed a silver piercing.
"What type of picture is this?" I asked. "Do you know this girl?"
"Yeah," he said, "somewhat."
"Somewhat?" I thought. She was sexting him and only somewhat knew him?
If you're a teenager, you probably know that sexting is the newly coined term for texting a racy photo of yourself (or just a body part) from your cell phone to another phone, e-mailing it to a friend, or posting it to your online profile page. If you're not a teenager, you'll probably want to keep reading.
Sexting has gotten a lot of attention in recent months, partly because of a new survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, which found that 1 in 5 teens admits to sending out digital nudes or semi-nudes of themselves.
That stat may shock adults, but most teens I know wouldn't be surprised to hear it. They don't always admit to texting the photos themselves, but everyone has a story of someone who has.
"Most definitely, I've experienced sexting," said Jovan Thompson, 16. "I guess you could say I was the victim. I received pictures."
"One of my friends from school was asked by a guy she liked to send him naked pictures of herself," said 16-year-old Margaret Daly. "But when she said no, he tried to cover it up and said, 'Oh, I was just seeing if you were a skank or something.' And it was obvious that he actually wanted the pictures."
"I had a church friend who did it," said Tony Shavers, age 16. "I confronted her and was like, 'Are you that bored?' She told me, 'Yeah.' She had nothing else to do and was kind of nonchalant about it."
But teens don't know everything about sexting.
For one thing, many teens don't seem to realize that there's no guarantee that their risqué images will remain in their boyfriend's inbox or on their MySpace page and that they can easily become one of the millions of naked teen photos floating through cyberspace to be viewed by complete strangers.
Most teens are also clueless about the legal ramifications of getting caught sexting. High school students in at least a dozen states have been charged with possessing and disseminating child pornography when police have confiscated their sexted pictures or traced one back to their phone. And if convicted, some of these teens may have to register as sex offenders.
"I was like, 'Wow, you can really just go down for this!' " Jovan said about the possibility of getting slammed for sexting. It was news to Margaret and Tony, too. I had only just found out myself.
And none of us was really OK with it all.
First of all, charging teen sexters with child pornography obviously isn't working as a deterrent for the simple fact that we're not afraid of what we don't know about.
It also flies in the face of certain inevitabilities: that sexting is the product of new technologies and that teenagers are full of hormones. Charging teens as sex offenders isn't likely to stop the drive to find innovative ways to communicate, including innovative ways of sexting, anymore than it is likely to end puberty.
The spread of underage porn is a big problem, but sexting itself is just not that serious. And it's not fair to punish us into our adult years - it can take decades to get off a sex offender list - for something so juvenile.
Instead, let's have an awareness campaign about the risks of texting and posting our naked images - safe sexting? Then let's let teenagers be teenagers. ..News Source.. by Ahmina James
March 20, 2009
SEXTING - A NEW TOOL FOR CHILD MOLESTERS
3-20-2009 National:
It's called sexting. By definition, it's the dissemination of pornographic messages vis-a-vis nude photos and sex talk via cell phones. And it's making headline news everywhere. In St. Petersburg, Florida teacher Christy Lynn Martin was caught sexting an eighth grade student. Martin admitted to allegedly sexting nude pictures of herself to the teen student and received same back from him. Martin admitted sending the images to the boy and was arrested for transmitting pornographic images through an electronic device and transmitting harmful material to a minor. Click here for the story.
After perusing over the Florida Statutes it appears Martin should have been charged with a violation of Florida Statute 800.04(7)(a)(2), Lewd and Lascivious Exhibition, a second degree felony which is punishable by 15 years in prison per count. In reality she was charged with two third degree felonys - click here and here.
In another case of sexting that led to suicide and has already garnered national attention, 18 year-old Jesse Logan hung herself in her Ohio bedroom last summer - click here for the story. Ostensibly, Logan sent sexually provocative images of herself to her boyfriend, and later after they broke up those images made their way around school. Logan couldn't endure the taunting from her peers and thoroughly depressed, took her own life. Logan's mother Cynthia just interviewed with Matt Lauer on the Today Show relative to the dangers of sexting.
So, we've gone from kidde porn over the internet which is still a lucrative haven for pedophiles and child molesters, to sexting via cell phones. As a professional who consults on and testifies in alleged sex crimes cases I find this "new tool for perverts" to be very problematic; problematic for parents, problematic for school officials, problematic for child protective services, problematic for the authorities, and especially problematic for our state and federal legislatures because ultimately they are the ones who are going to be forced back to their legislative drawing boards to fix it. From a national perspective, the next time the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is re-authorized once more it may have to first be amended and tweaked to include definitions, clarifications, punishments and courses of action and prevention relative to sexting.
For the remainder of this story: by Dean Tong forensic trial consultant, is author of the critically acclaimed book: Elusive Innocence: Survival Guide for the Falsely Accused.
March 19, 2009
IN- McDONALD: Reprecussions of "sexting"
3-19-2009 Indiana:
In high school, how many friends could you trust? Reflecting after a few decades have passed, we can easily recognize how few there were.
I wonder how many young women of high-school age place unlimited trust in their boyfriends or young men whom they hope will be their boyfriends?
The reason that I ask this question relates to an incident from a couple of weeks ago. A teenage girl shared a nude photo of herself with a boyfriend. After they broke up, the boyfriend in turn shared it with the football team who in turn shared it with the entire senior class.
Unbeknownst to her parents, girls and boys at school began to form their sordid opinions of her and harassed her relentlessly at school. She was many other names that cannot be mentioned in a family newspaper. Ultimately, it reached a point that the young girl hanged herself.
Technology can be a wonderful thing when used properly. Teenagers sometimes don’t always think through the potential ramifications of their actions. In this case, the ramification was a young lady was so distraught that she took her own life. However, in many states, sending a nude photo of yourself if you are less than 18 or forwarding sent photo to others constitutes the distribution of child pornography.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger advises, “Don’t worry so much about your self-esteem. Worry more about your character. Integrity is its own reward.” It is particularly difficult to navigate socially through middle school and high school. As a person who was on the outside looking in socially in high school, I can attest to the feeling of alienation.
I know that I have done things that I would be ashamed to have in print that were silly things in high school. But those things were done in a sad attempt to belong to a group and gain acceptance.
Cell phones and the Internet provide an opportunity to belong in ways that are not healthy and can be, as we have seen, potentially fatal. Friends of a teenager who took her own life after a nude photo of her was sent around her school have come forward to discuss the events that led to the girl’s suicide.
“She more like kept to herself, [and] would like hide in the bathroom and cry,” said Lauren Taylor, who was best friends with Jessie Logan. “She’d always call me crying.”
Logan was an 18-year-old senior at Sycamore High School in Cincinnati when a nude picture she sent to her boyfriend was sent to hundreds of students at schools across the area.
Her grades plummeted, and she began skipping school or hiding out in the bathroom to avoid other students.
“They’d say she that she was just trying to be a porn star,” said Taylor.
But friends said technology allowed the harassment to follow her home or anywhere else she went.
“When she would leave school, she would get on her MySpace or her Facebook, and then kids would be messaging her on that or texting her phone, people she didn’t even know,” Taylor said.
This one decision led to a depression so great and shame and humiliation so deep that to Jessica there was no other way out.
“Sexting” is a growing and serious problem. It’s when young people take nude pictures or images of themselves engaging in real or simulated sex acts on their cell phones or Web cams and then send them to others by cell phone or Web cams. About 20 percent of the teenage girls polled by Cyberlawyer Parry Aftab said they had taken a nude or sexually explicit cell phone picture or Web cam shot of them and shared it with others (most often their boyfriends). Fourteen percent of the boys share these “private” images with others when they break up with their girlfriends. And 44 percent of the boys polled admitted to having seen at least one of these sexual images of a classmate.
Twenty-two percent of the girls polled said that they regretted whatever they had recorded on their Web cam and 71 percent use them in their bedroom. And older teenagers and young adults are even more at risk, with almost 40 percent of the teenagers older than 18 and college students we polled said they had shared a nude or sexual image with their boyfriend or girlfriend online or by cell phone.
What strikes me in all of this is what young girls must think of themselves to share such intimate images with boyfriends. The unfortunate thing about this new phenomenon is that once that image is out there, it is extremely hard to retrieve and remove. Fathers and mothers should take great care to instill confidence in their daughters.
Young women should know that they should be able to achieve on their own and that the attraction of a young man is secondary.
Young men only rarely display a level of maturity commensurate with appreciating a young woman for who she is rather than an object of desire. ..News Source.. by TIM MCDONALD, Local Columnist
March 17, 2009
'Sexting' – adults only
3-17-2009 National:
Do you “sext?” "Sexting" involves sending or posting sexually charged messages and photos, via your cell phone. It is the 21st century tech term for what was once called phone sex. We’ve all heard of phone sex and may have done it ourselves as part of an adult couple. Now we have graduated to "sexting.” As foreplay to an evening together for men and women, it can be very erotic and lots of fun.
But sexting is not just being used as foreplay for innovative adults. It is a dangerous form of communication for teenagers and ‘tweenagers as young as ten. The newest generation is playing a word game, Mom and Dad, and it isn’t Scrabble. We’re not talking about innocent lingo such as OMG and LOL; we’re discussing sex talk among teens in the most implicit terms.
If you need an interpreter for the messages on your child’s phone, there are sites that explain to concerned parents exactly what the acronyms mean. Have you seen a number 8 on your son’s or daughter’s phone recently? That’s the lingo for oral sex. How about 1174? It means a nude club, as in joining one. GNOC? Get Naked On Cam (webcam). DUM? Do You Masturbate. IWSN? I Want Sex Now. KPC? Keeping Parents Clueless. Those are some of the more printable ones.
There’s much, much more.
None of this harmless fun; it is not only dangerous but a great deal of it, in picture form, is illegal.
An thirteen year old boy in Texas spent the night in a juvenile detention center after his football coach found a nude picture of a fellow student on his cell phone. Since the picture was of someone under the age of 18, it's called child pornography.
Also charged with child pornography are three teenage boys in Pennsylvania who received nude cell phone pictures of three girls, two of whom are 14 and one who is 15. The girls had taken the explicit nude pictures of themselves and then sexted them to the boys at school. Both the boys as well as the girls face criminal charges.
Criminal charges are not the only dangers kids face. Sexting can be tragic.
Eighteen year old high school student Jesse Logan sent her boyfriend nude pictures of herself. When she and her boyfriend broke up, he cruelly did the unthinkable; he sent the pictures around their high school. Harassed by other students who called her a slut, a whore, and other vulgarities, life as a teenager became a living hell. Wanting to get the message out that “sexting” can have devastating consequences, Jesse told her story to a Cincinnati television station. That was in May 2008. A few months later, unable to take the unremitting harassment of the other students, Jesse Logan went home, locked the door, and hanged herself in her bedroom.
Remember the words, “adults only?” Kids need to understand that there is a very good reason for those words. It means that some things are not for the under 21 group. Responsibilities come with being an adult and so does dealing with the consequences of adult actions, legal and otherwise.
As mature or sophisticated as teens and ‘tweens may think they are, they’re still kids. While they may have spawned a new word for the dictionaries, they have no idea what that word is costing them in dignity, responsibility, and sometimes, in lives. ..News Source.. by Kristen Houghton, Relationship Examiner
March 15, 2009
Adults try to stop overexposed pictures sent to teens via cell phones
3-15-2009 National:
One in five American teenagers likely has sent a nude or semi-naked photo of themselves to someone else via their cell phone, a recent national survey shows.
While some youngsters consider it fun, the issue commonly referred to as "sexting" alarms parents and troubles educators and law enforcement officers, who warn the images are appearing on the Internet and in the hands of predators. They also worry about the long-term impact on teens' futures.
In Knox County police are dealing with an average of two "sexting" cases a week. In some states, youngsters who share the pictures are being charged with child pornography.
School counselors and organizations are trying to curb the problem by educating parents and youths. Teens are also trying to dissuade friends.
"Just about anybody can get ahold of that picture," said Amber Miller, 18, a Fulton High School senior. "It's your reputation. Once you let go of it, it's gone."
Cell-phone consequences
The advent of inexpensive cell phones means parents can keep a closer eye on children during the school day. Students are abusing the technology, however.
"It first started a few years back with their texting the answers to test questions," said Steve Griffin, security chief for Knox County Schools. "It's expanded to them taking pictures of each others' body parts and texting them around."
At Cedar Bluff Middle School, staff recently held an assembly to warn eighth-graders of the inappropriate nature of the behavior.
"We really can't do anything about this" because of privacy issues, said Cedar Bluff counselor Betty Anne Domm. "I do wish parents would take their kids' phones and look at them more closely. That would make me very happy."
Some of the pictures land on social networking pages or on Web sites full of posts with teens' breasts and genitalia. In some instances, the pictures include their faces. The teens seek feedback about their looks.
"We're trying to get the word out ... that this is not an activity they need to be engaged in," said Knoxville Police Department Sgt. Scott Sheppard. "It's child pornography. The way cell phones have evolved, they're miniature computers, and these offenses are significant. We don't want any children tagged as sex offenders for the rest of their lives because they snapped a picture with their cell phone."
Sheppard and other KPD officers make Internet safety presentations to parents and students that address "sexting" and what can happen when such content is sent out.
The department handles at least two cases a week of teens' naked cell phone pictures, Sheppard said, and it's "two too much."
"You're talking about the potential for a child to reach out to other people. ... It's distribution, receipt and possession."
Prosecutors in Vermont and Pennsylvania, for example, have been charging teenagers who send and receive the pictures with child pornography.
In Tennessee, teenagers could be subject to child pornography laws, but prosecution of juvenile cases are always deferred to the state or local officials, said Knoxville Assistant U.S. Attorney Chuck Atchley, coordinator of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative to protect children from online exploitation and abuse.
"When you've got two teens doing that, it sounds more appropriate for counseling than it does prosecution," said Atchley, who prosecutes child pornography cases.
The student perspective
For some teens, sending nude self-portraits "is like a high," said Powell High School senior Devin Harvey, 17. "I think they're doing it because it's not actual sex, so there's less risk for STDs and pregnancies. It's more of a visual stimulation for them."
They don't recognize the behavior's consequences. The pictures can be sent to others besides the intended recipient, said Harvey, who remembers once being spammed with naked photos of a female friend by her ex-boyfriend.
A false sense of privacy is a reason teens send those pictures, said John Suler, a professor at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., who specializes in cyber psychology. He's developed an "online disinhibition effect" theory, which holds that the detachment of the online world makes people do things they would not ordinarily do.
"People often see their cell phone or computer as an extension of their own mind," Suler said, leading them to believe content sent through either medium isn't public.
Students who send such photos show disrespect to themselves and malign other teenagers, said Miller, the Fulton student. "The older generation might think we don't care and we're willing to make fools of ourselves, and that's not true of all of us," she said.
Anecdotal stories about "sexting" prompted the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and CosmoGirl.com to conduct a survey in October.
Results showed 20 percent of teens say they have posted nude or semi-nude pictures or videos of themselves. Most teens sent the content to boyfriends or girlfriends. Half of the teen girls said pressure from a guy is the reason they sent the messages.
The survey's use of "semi-nude" is ambiguous, but Bill Albert, National Campaign chief program officer, said participants understood the term meant "revealing something not ordinarily revealed in public." Respondents were overwhelmingly white.
Since January, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has received 130 reports of child exploitation by cell phones, though not all are related to teens sending nude photos, said John Shehan, director of the exploited child division.
The organization, which operates a cyber tip line, last year began logging cell phone use as it became more prevalent, he said.
"Individuals that have a sexual interest in children, they collect the content and continue to circulate (them)," Shehan said.
His group is working with the Ad Council on a public service announcement to be released in several weeks, addressing the use of cellular devices.
Addressing the problem
Across the state, Memphis City Schools has formed a principals' task force after educators confiscated cell phones with provocative photos.
Last week, the Knox County Council Parent Teacher Association and the Metropolitan Drug Commission hosted a workshop for parents about the topic.
"There are a lot of parents who are slightly naive about what their children are doing with electronics," said Deborah Britt, president of the parent-teacher council and mother of a middle and high school student. "You don't want to monitor (children's) every moment.
"There's a fine line when your children are growing into young adulthood about how much is guiding and how much is spying."
Students' penchant for sending and receiving nude images proves the need for schools to follow a consistent cell phone policy, said Athanasios Bayiates, president of the Knox County Education Association.
The school system's policy - the device must be turned off during the school day - is not applied identically everywhere, he said.
"It puts educators in a difficult position if something were to happen," he said, and they could be blamed.
Ultimately, the responsibility lies with teenagers, said Michaelan Moore, a Webb School of Knoxville senior who recalls the case of a Webb student who sent nude pictures to someone during her freshman year. Those images were passed around to others.
"I've seen her naked, and it's kind of hard to look at her without thinking of that," Michaelan said.
She added: "A little consideration before doing that kind of stuff is definitely necessary. That can come back to haunt you far, far into your future." ..News Source.. by Lola Alapo
March 6, 2009
MA- DA's office raises awareness about 'sexting'
3-6-2009 Massachusetts:
PITTSFIELD — A high-tech trend known as "sexting," in which nude or sexually explicit photos are transmitted by cell phone or spread over the Internet, is prompting county officials to take proactive steps to combat the illicit activity before it takes root.
The district attorney's office, in conjunction with a local cable TV station, plans to produce anti-sexting programs that will begin airing in county schools this spring.
Sexting, a disturbing trend popular with a growing number of adolescents and teenagers, is not yet a problem in the 6,300-student Pittsfield school district, according to Superintendent Howard "Jake" Eberwein III, who hopes to keep it that way.
"We're not seeing it as a prevalent issue," he said, noting, however, that school officials are concerned about the growing phenomenon.
Meanwhile, at least one county high school has already had to confront the trend head-on.
"We're still dealing with an incident that occurred at one of the area high schools," said Berkshire District Attorney David F. Capeless, who declined to identify which one.
"I'm concerned about stigmatizing one school," said Capeless, if, indeed, sexting is also prevalent at other county schools.
More than a dozen local high school students were implicated in the sexting incident, which involved the circulation of explicit photos of a local girl, according to Capeless, who declined to provide further details. No one has been criminally charged in connection with the case.
"The primary thing we've sought to do in that case ... is to stop what was going on," said Capeless, adding that he would prefer to deal with such matters outside the criminal justice system. If need be, though, offenders could be charged with any of a number of felony crimes, Capeless said.
Despite the insistence of some teenagers that sexting is fun, flirtatious, and an easy way to test the romantic waters, so to speak, the issue of consent is moot, Capeless said.
"There's no consenting minors," he added.
Nationwide, 22 percent of teenage girls and 18 percent of teenage boys admit to electronically sending or posting nude or semi-nude images of themselves, according to a survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmogirl.com.
Many of the middle- and high school-age students surveyed in the recent poll say sexting is nothing more than a high-tech way to flirt. But law enforcement officials say this sort of flirtatious behavior could fall within the realm of criminal behavior, triggering possible child pornography charges that, upon conviction, would require a person to register with the state's Sex Offender Registration Board.
In Massachusetts, in fact, anyone who sends or receives explicit sexual images could run afoul of the state's tough child porn laws, all of which are felony offenses punishable by jail, fines or both.
In an effort to take a proactive approach to the growing problem, Capeless held a press conference at his office Tuesday morning to educate people about the dangers of the sexting phenomenon, which has received heavy media attention in recent weeks.
What's most disturbing, said Capeless, is the blasé attitude of those who engage in this sort of activity. "It concerns me a great deal," he said.
Sexting generally happens like this: An image — particularly a photo of a nude or partially nude minor — is typically transmitted from one cell phone to another, then further disseminated through e-mail and online social networking Web sites. If the image winds up on MySpace or Facebook, for example, it potentially can be viewed by thousands of people.
This sort of activity is happening all over the nation, including the Berkshires, according to Capeless, who hopes to end the trend with education. His office is producing anti-sexting programs with PCTV, a local public access station, with a goal of showing the videos at schools throughout the county this spring.
"What we're setting out to do here is to educate parents and kids about the very real and far-reaching consequences of this sort of behavior," Capeless said. "The audience we're really trying to reach is the parents."
The joint survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmogirl.com included responses from 1,280 teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 26. Respondents were polled about their use of and attitude toward cell phones, computers and other digital communication devices.
Among the more disturbing results, according to Capeless, is the derelict attitude of respondents, 49 percent of whom admitted to sending sexually explicit messages and 56 percent of whom acknowledged receiving such messages.
Further, 33 percent of teenage boys and 25 percent of teenage girls say they have received nude or semi-nude images, while 33 percent of respondents between the ages of 20 and 26 say they have sent or posted images of themselves.
According to Massachusetts criminal law, sexting may violate child pornography laws ranging from "posing a child in a state of nudity or sexual conduct," "dissemination of pictures of a child in a state of nudity or sexual conduct," "possession of child pornography" or "dissemination of harmful matter to a minor."
More information is available on by logging on to the district attorney's Web site at www.mass.gov/berkshireda, then clicking on the "Crime Prevention" category. ..News Source.. by Conor Berry
March 1, 2009
Let's not make criminals of our stupid teenagers
3-1-2009 National:
'Sexting' may be foolish, but should it really be an arrestable offence, asks Carol Hunt
"Just don't video them," I said, "or we'll be done for kiddie porn."
Later on, while the eight-year-old took a bath, her brother followed and snapped a picture of her with his new favourite gadget -- my iPhone.
"Better erase that," I joked to a friend, "or he'll be done for manufacturing child porno-graphy [he's five] and I'll get done for possession."
Yes, it sounds insane, but a few weeks ago in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, three people were charged with manufacturing and disseminating child pornography.
Their subjects were arrested simultaneously. That's because they were one and the same: three girls, aged between 14 and 15, had been joking around together taking nude shots of themselves on their mobile phones. One of the girls decided to send them to a few male friends.
The three boys (all in their teens) who received the "pornography" have been charged with possession.
Local police captain George Seranko was horrified by the images. "They weren't just breasts," he declared. "They showed female anatomy!"
And it's not just Greensburg's local cop who is getting himself in a tizzy about the new breed of child pornographers who are a danger to themselves. Kids in Alabama, Pennsylvania, Florida, Utah, New York, Connecticut and other US states have been arrested for "sexting": sending softcore photos or video pictures of themselves to others.
A mother of a young boy who was arrested after a female student texted him a naked picture of herself, said: "He doesn't know what a 'felony' means. He doesn't understand what 'pornography' means -- he's a 13-year-old child." Yes, and he's now a 13-year- old child who will have to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years or so.
OK, so no parent really wants to hear that their precious, innocent little Sadbh has been "sexting" lewd photos of herself to the lads in the schoolyard -- but is this really as serious a problem as people like Captain Seranko seem to think, or can it be viewed as high-tech flirting?
"It's very dangerous," Seranko warned an astonished public. "Once it's on a cell phone, it can be put on the internet where everyone in the world can get access to the juvenile picture. You don't realise what you're doing until it's already done."
Fair enough, but there seem to be two conflicting issues here. First, the responsibility of parents and society in general to protect children from sexual predators.
Second, the right of teenagers to express and explore their sexuality through a medium with which they are extremely comfortable: mobile phone technology and the internet. ('Sexnology' anyone? We had to make do with spin the bottle, strip poker, kiss chase and, if we were very racy, Polaroid pictures.)
And it's a tad ironic that -- in an age where little girls' dollies look like Jordan in a dominatrix outfit, sexy bras and thongs are sold to seven-year-olds, and lap-dancing kits are marketed to 12-year-olds -- teens are being charged as sex offenders for taking pictures of their own nude bodies.
Kids today have a very different notion of "privacy" than do their parents. Just have a look at the stuff they put on Facebook and MySpace. Instead of a real local village where everyone reminds you for years afterwards about the time you went skinny dipping for a dare with the local boys, teenagers today have their own "cyber villages", where photos of them mooning or stripping will still be circulating for years to come.
Personally, I think "sexting" is pretty stupid. And, thankfully, so do most teenagers.
One told me she would never put anything online that didn't pass the "uncle" test -- if she wouldn't show it to her uncle, she wouldn't post it. Another pointed out that the boyfriend to whom you send naked pictures today may very well be the ex who humiliates you by passing them on to his mates tomorrow.
But at least one in five teenagers have admitted to "sexting". That's what some teenagers do: stupid things. (So do adults but that's another story entirely.)
And a study released from Harvard this month, Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies, concludes that "the risks minors face online are in most cases not significantly different from those
they face offline ... bullying and harassment, most often by peers, are the most frequent threats that minors face, on and offline".What the report is saying is that the kids who get into sexual trouble online tend to be the ones who are at risk offline. Social networking sites just reinforce pre-existing social relations.
The teenage girl who posts pictures of herself getting her tits out for the boys on YouTube is the same girl we all knew in school who would flash her boobs down the back of the soccer pitch for 50p for a gawk.
Would she have been arrested as a child pornographer? Would the boys have been registered for 10 years as sex offenders for watching? No, I didn't think so either.
"Sexting" seems to be just a new way for immature teens to engage in risky, irresponsible behaviour. Arresting them and charging them with manufacturing, disseminating and receiving child pornography is a ridiculous way of reacting to what is essentially bad judgement and stupidity.
We can warn them all we like about the potential consequences of posting drunken naked pictures on their social networking page -- but these are teenagers, for God's sake. It's their duty to ignore their parents and learn life's lessons the hard way. It's called growing up. ..News Source..
January 7, 2009
CA- Just say "know" to Teen Sex
1-7-2009 California:
Grown-ups spend a lot of time worrying that the next generation is sexually stupid. “Today’s teens,” the cries begin, and they end with the words “wild,” “in such a hurry,” or “setting themselves up for heartache …”
They’re not unfounded, these accusations. But they were true of us, too. And they were true of our mothers, grandmothers, and — sorry for the mental image — great-grandmothers. Sex is like driving. Before you slide into the driver’s seat and take your foot off that brake, you don’t really know anything useful about it. And the education can be terrifying.
My friends learned the hard way. “I didn’t anticipate how emotionally overwhelming the experience would be,” said one.
“I wish I’d been better educated about STDs,” confessed another.
Me? My first time was slow and sweet, passionate and perfect — until my mother walked in on us. Wish I were kidding.
It’s true that “today’s teens” are dealing with brand new issues. Puberty happens earlier than it used to. Music videos dare 11-year-olds to wear booty shorts and shake body parts whose very functions they have yet to comprehend. And explicit digital photos — which we all know seem like a ducky idea at the time — can circulate through campus infinitely faster than a dog-eared Polaroid ever could.
But I wonder if girls today are actually smarter about sex than I ever was. More knowledgeable. More conscientious. That’s what it seemed like recently, when I sat in on a Sexual Wisdom workshop for teenage girls.
Run by therapist Jennifer Freed, the 10-week group aims to help teens make informed decisions about sex by fostering casual, confidential conversations about everything from flirtation to masturbation, virginity to pornography. On a recent Monday night, a dozen Santa Barbara girls aged 14 to 18 trickled into Freed’s living room-like therapy office. Some are there at the suggestion of school counselors, or their parents. Some come simply out of curiosity.
Dressed in sweatshirts and jeans, they plop onto couches and armchairs, dip into a bag of organic snacks, and start talking about sex.
A girl announces that her boyfriend wants them both to date other people. Freed asks the group to rate, on a scale of one to 10, one being lowest, how comfortable they’d be with such an “open relationship.” When no one goes above four, she explained that women’s hormones make us want to bond, and that sharing partners may actually be harder for women than men.
“I’m kind of on a crusade,” said Freed, who cofounded the Academy of Healing Arts for area teens. “One third of girls will have had sexual intercourse by the time they’re 14 — so they’d better know what that means for them.”
Abstinence education is a joke, she said. “That doesn’t help anybody in the midst of teen lust.” So instead of advising them to resist “sexting” (sending nude phone-to-phone photos of themselves), for instance, Freed asks them, “‘What motivates us to do that? Why is it exciting and interesting? And what are the consequences of this?’ You have to slow it all down so they can really examine the emotional aspects of the choices.”
The workshop operates on donations and includes Freed’s workbook, which prompts participants to write or draw responses to questions like, “How would you react if someone walked in on you during sex?”
And believe me when I say that’s one you want to think about before it happens. ..News Source.. by Starshine Roshell
December 15, 2008
MI- No Charges Filed Against Pinckney Students In Cell Phone Case
12-15-2008 Michigan:
No criminal charges will be filed against Pinckney high school students for their roles in passing along sexually explicit cell phone photos of a female student. The decision was announced at a press conference held Monday morning by Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse.
A 14 year old girl took 20 cell phone photos and two 30-second videos of herself last summer and sent them to two boys she knew. Then when school started in October, the photos began circulating. An anonymous letter was eventually sent to the assistant principal about the situation and 19 students were later suspended as a result of passing along the photos.
Morse says he felt the schools took appropriate action and therefore, criminal charges will not be filed. There were six cell phones confiscated for evidence. Four will be returned to the student owners because the photos had already been deleted.
The other two will not as they still contained the photo.
Morse reminds parents that there are real dangers out there and just last week, a convicted sex offender from New York filed a freedom of information act request asking for the report and photos. Morse says by law they must respond and the report will be distributed. However, it will be heavily edited and no personal information nor the photos will be released. ..News Source.. by WHMI 93.5FM
On October 7, 2008, a detective with the Livingston County Sheriffs Department was dispatched to Pinckney High School regarding an allegation of possession and/or distribution of sexually explicit photos of a minor.
During the investigation the detective learned that an anonymous letter containing copies of sexually explicit photos of a 14 year old girl was sent to an Assistant Principal at Pinckney High School.
It was discovered that approximately 20 photos and two 30 second videos were sent by the 14 year old girl to two boys sometime during this past summer. It appears that the photos then began circulating to other students during the school year.
Detectives seized 6 cell phones from students admitting that they had had the photos on their phones. An evaluation of the phones revealed that the photos had been deleted off four of the phones while two phones still contained the photos.
It was reported that the photos had been sent to several hundred other students.
Detectives were unable to confirm that information and, with limited resources, were unable to mount the comprehensive investigation necessary to make that determination.
It is a crime in Michigan to possess or disseminate sexually explicit photos of minors. There are a number of misdemeanors and felony's that address the issue.
While it is clear to me that the students involved could have been charged in this incident, I have determined that no charges will be filed. My decision to forego criminal charges is based on the disciplinary action taken by the school against the students involved in the incident. Additionally, the Pinckney schools are sponsoring a program this Wednesday, December 17, from 7pm-8pm entitled "Analogue Parents with Digital Children at the Pathfinder School media center. I feel the matter has been adequately addressed by the schools and that filing criminal charges in this instance is unnecessary.
I urge all parents to attend this informational program. If parents are going to provide their children with technology they should be aware of the capabilities of that technology and the dangers that the unsupervised use of that technology can bring. As Detroit Free Press columnist Mike Wendlend rececntly wrote, by providing their children with advanced technology parents are handing their kids a key to places they shouldn't be allowed to go, so the parents better know what keys their kids are using. He also pointed out that because kids are immature they are by nature going to be impulsive and irresponsible but that parents do not share that excuse.
I have repeatedly said that the danger in this sort of behavior is that predators are lurking on the internet in hopes of finding information they can act upon. It just takes one angry or jealous kid who receives sexually explicit pictures to post them on the internet with name, address and phone number. Just the sort of information a predator would welcome.
For those parents who believe this behavior is just childish mischief and are skeptical of the dangers about which the police and I are concerned, let me offer an illustration of that danger. We have received in this case a Freedom of Information Act request for the reports and photos from an Anthony Brandon. Mr. Brandon is a multiply convicted sex offender currently serving a 20 year to life sentence in New York for his latest sex related conviction. Note: Under Michigan FOIA law (MCL 15.232(c)), this request does not have to be answered as those who are still a inmate of a prison are exempt from such requests.
I hope this serves to demonstrate to the skeptics that there are predators out there and who will use any means to find ways to prey upon our children.
December 14, 2008
OH- Connie Schultz: Making kids to tell law's naked truth is the perfect sentence
12-14-2008 Ohio:
The teenage girl wanted to taunt an ex-boyfriend.
So she used her cell phone to photograph herself in various stages of undress, then attached a simple message:
"This is what you are missing."
Then she clicked "send."
Before long, her nude photos meant for one boy were popping up on the cell phones of other boys at her suburban Cleveland high school. Two of her girlfriends' naked photos also started making the rounds.
All eight of the students involved were between the ages of 14 and 16. And all of them were caught. Not one knew that circulating the photos was illegal until a school administrator caught wind of their game and called the police.
Thomas O'Malley is the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court judge who heard the case, but it was Thomas O'Malley the father who figured out the punishment.
O'Malley knew a growing number of minors across the country were forwarding nude photos of themselves and their friends via cell phones. As Anthony Bondra, a lawyer for one of the boys in this case, told me, "It's an epidemic, from California to Maine."
O'Malley also knew that some of these teenagers, including a 17-year-old girl in Columbus, have been labeled sexual predators for up to 10 years after getting caught.
"Imagine that," he said, "having that label follow you around for a decade."
None of the kids in this case had prior criminal records, and they and their parents were duly mortified over the severity of their crime. Still, O'Malley wanted to sentence the teens in a way that would help other kids, too. He didn't figure out just how he was going to do that until he sat down to dinner with his own four teenagers.
"Give me your cell phones," he told them. One by one, he checked his kids' phones for stored photos. To his relief, there were no naked pictures.
"Do you guys know that it's against federal law to send nude photos of you or your friends on your cell phones?" he asked them. "Did you know that, if you get caught, you can be labeled a sexual predator?"
Not one of them answered yes.
"They all looked at me with such puzzled faces," O'Malley said. "I immediately told them, 'You should tell your friends that. You should make sure your friends know the law.' "
And that's when the judge figured out the sentence for the three girls and five boys who did get caught.
Last week, O'Malley ordered each of them to find 25 teenagers under the age of 18 at their school and ask them one question:
"Did you know that possessing, viewing or sending nude or partial nude photos or images of a minor [someone under 18 years of age] using [a] cell phone is a felony and could result in you being jailed for a minimum of six (6) months up until the age of 21?"
The teens have to record only the students' first name, but each of them has to ask a different set of 25 kids, O'Malley said.
They will report back to the judge with their findings in January.
In the meantime, O'Malley has tried to reach out to area high schools to help educate their students about the dangers of circulating naked pictures on their cell phones.
He sent a letter to 20 high schools in Cuyahoga County, both public and private, offering to speak to their students.
Not one high school has responded.
Perhaps school administrators think their students already know better.
Lawyer Bondra wants them to think again.
His client already has completed his survey. Of the 25 kids he asked, 23 did not know it was against the law to send naked photos of underage classmates.
That's a total of two who knew it was illegal.
O'Malley hopes that parents across the country will have the tough talk with their own teenagers. He also has some advice for parents who think their kids would never do such a thing.
"Check their cell phones," he said. "Click on their pictures."
And do it today. ..News Source.. by Connie Schultz/Plain Dealer Columnist
December 11, 2008
OH- Judge orders teens to inform friends: Sending nude pictures by phone can be a felony
12-11-2008 Ohio:
Eight suburban teens were embarrassed to find out that sending nude pictures to their friends has a legal name -- obscenity.
The teens, from Mayfield and Highland Heights, knew that taking provocative photos of themselves and sending them with their cell phones was imprudent -- but they didn't think it was illegal.
Even their parents, who were shocked at the pictures, didn't know their 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds could be charged with felonies.
Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Thomas F. O'Malley decided to fill that knowledge gap for at least 200 other teens by using the five girls and three boys, most of whom are friends and attend school together, to spread the word of law.
Under a plan agreed on by prosecutors, defense attorneys and the judge, each teen will survey 25 other teens about whether they know having, viewing or sending nude photos of a minor can result in a felony record and land them in a juvenile prison.
They also have to get counseling and an assessment geared to cases considered sex offenses.
If they complete those things, the charges will be dismissed.
O'Malley said he wanted to deal with the teens in an alternative way after realizing that they didn't seem to know that they had broken the law.
"I thought, 'How can I get the message to as many juveniles as possible?' " O'Malley said.
The teens are supposed to come back to O'Malley's court in January to compile and present their results, which could later be used to educate other teens in the court or in the community.
"I can't wait to see what they come back with," O'Malley said.
Cuyahoga County Juvenile Division Prosecutor Mike Horn said his office agreed with the resolution because none of the kids had records.
A national survey released this week about teens, sex and technology found that at least 20 percent of teens surveyed had sent or posted nude or seminude pictures of themselves.
The online survey, done by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmogirl.com, found an even higher percentage, nearly 40, had sent sexually suggestive text or instant messages or e-mails.
Anthony Bondra, an attorney for a 14-year-old boy charged in the Cuyahoga County case, said the teens were shocked when what they thought was a seemingly innocent and private thing went public and became a criminal matter.
Even more eye-opening was when O'Malley explained to the kids and their parents that they risked having to register as sex offenders for taking, sending and sharing the pictures, Bondra said.
He said the result, hopefully, will prevent some other teens from having to repeat their mistakes. ..News Source.. by Rachel Dissell, Plain Dealer Reporter
