CO teens may be charged with FELONIES / "Sex-Offenders" due to "sexting"

(CNN) - Students at a Colorado high school exchanged hundreds of naked photos of themselves, prompting a felony investigation by police and the forfeiture of a football game because many players have been implicated in the sexting scandal, officials said.

Source

This...is positively ludicrous. We're talking teenagers. NON-adults. ie, people who do NOT have sufficient life experience to make decisions appropriately. Therefore, prone to making mistakes.

Hence the reason why in ALOT of cases, children are NOT tried as adults. A child being tried as an adult is the exception, and not the rule.

VII. Sex Offender Laws and Child Offenders

It’s a negative self-fulfilling prophecy when you label a child a sex offender. You place that kind of stigma on a kid and they tend to live up, or rather down, to those expectations.
—Scott Smith, a therapist who treats children with sexual behavior issues 219

How many of you would like a poor decision you made at the age of 13 to follow you around for the rest of your life?
—Lacy J., a mother of a 13-year-old convicted as an adult for having sexual contact with his five-year-old cousin, speaking before a panel of Arizona state legislators 220

He knows nothing about sex. There is no way to explain [the accusation of sexual harassment] to him.

—Michael V., whose five-year-old son was accused of sexually harassing a kindergarten classmate after he pinched her buttocks 221

Teenagers and even young children who engage in certain sex-based conduct may find themselves subject to sex offender registration, community notification, and residency restriction laws. Some children are on registries because they committed serious sex offenses, such as forcibly raping a much younger child. Other children are labeled sex offenders for such non-coercive or nonviolent and age-appropriate activities as “playing doctor,” youthful pranks such as exposing one’s buttocks, and non-coercive teen sex.

Subjecting children to sex offender laws originally developed for adult offenders is both unnecessary from a public safety perspective and harmful to the child.

The juvenile justice system acknowledges that children who break the law should be treated differently than adults, with a greater emphasis on rehabilitation, and that forcing them to carry the burden of a public criminal record for childhood mistakes serves neither them nor the community. The records of children caught up in the juvenile justice system can be expunged or sealed, or entered into the public record as an “adjudication” when the offender reaches the age of majority.222 State sex offender registration laws, however, can trump juvenile offender laws. Children thus find themselves subject to the shame and stigma of being identified as sex offenders on online registries, in some cases for the rest of their lives. For example, Kevin A. was adjudicated at age 12 for performing a sex act on a child under 10. He told a journalist, “I was at school, at lunchtime, and one my best friends came up to me and asked me [about my name being found on the online sex offender registry after doing a Google search]. It sort of hit me off balance. It just gave me a feeling of I don’t want to be there, knowing they know what I did wrong.”

Source - Human Rights Watch

This, in my opinion, is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It is an utterly ludicrous and thoughtless adherence to laws that are clearly written for adults.

YES a thousand times YES sexting is a bad thing, as you NEVER know where that photo is going to end up. And, it WILL end up on some strangers computer eventually. Especially so amongst children and teenagers.

But a teenager or child, lacking appropriate experience to know better, that now has a FELONY on their record? That is now on a SEX OFFENDER list and must live with that for the rest of their life?

This is just as idiotic as a child being suspended from school for making a "lightsaber" out of play-doh, which happened to a VERY good friend of mine.


Please tell me that I am not the only person who sees the insanity for what it is????

a reply to: nullafides

I think you pretty much hit the nail right on the head with that one. They are seriously going forward with that? I would've understood scaring the sh** out of the kids at first, but to actually charge them?

I feel sorry for the kids and their families. Getting sent up the river by the Man

a reply to: FamCore

You know, I'm a dirty old man. I have a computer. And guess what I have on it?

I also have a daughter. She's young, only a few years into grade school.

The MINUTE she gets a device with a camera on it, if I don't go in and deactivate the sucker (or take a finishing nail to the camera lense), I'm going to have a talk with her. At my computer.

And I'm going to show her a few things.

And then I'm going to ask her...is this where you'd want a photo of yourself to show up some day?

That is the best way I can think of to prevent her from ever doing something along those lines.

a reply to: nullafides

Teenagers sexting pictures of each other are the same age as each other, yet they can get charged with possessing child porn. I think a far better approach is some community service and a fine. That is what they did in Florida when a similar situation showed up at a school there. This gives the offenders a warning to be taken seriously but doesn't jump the gun and make them sex offenders with a felony on their record.

Sounds like a temporary situation.

Just why on earth would a bunch of investigators get the ok to view child porn?

If you dabble in shat then you will smell like it.

Everybody on the job has a choice of weather to view such.

I'm from that town, kind of small so EVERYONE will know ,not so much fun.

I bet every cop in the county gets to see the pictures and the girls involved suddenly get a lot of police attention.

a reply to: cavtrooper7

Oh yeah? I live over in Thornton

This...is positively ludicrous. We're talking teenagers. NON-adults. ie, people who do NOT have sufficient life experience to make decisions appropriately. Therefore, prone to making mistakes.

a reply to: nullafides


Come on, you're telling me these teenagers don't know the difference between right and wrong? High school kids today are much more street smart than you give them credit for. The big difference between our generation and the generation of today is we had CONSEQUENCES for bad behavior! More and more teens are doing adult crimes and continue to commit them because they just get a slap on the wrist!

Charging these kids with felonies or as sex offenders is a bit much, but they should receive some kind of strong consequence for their actions! I get tired of the same old line "they're too young to make the correct decisions in life." This isn't like them trying to decide how to invest their money or what job career pays more! The media has been talking about the dangers of sexting for years. Do you really think teenagers don't know texting is wrong? If they didn't, they wouldn't have hidden the sexting photos!!

It's about time we stop handling teenagers with kid gloves. Parents and adults need to get their heads out of the sand.

Oh come on, they're teenagers. They do stupid things by default. My best friend when we were teens used to set up multiple dates in a night, spaced out just enough to get a snack/dinner/quick shopping trip & laid before lather, rinse repeat with the next oblivious guy. Come to find out from her sister recently, she found a bunch of her old "hit 'em & quit 'em" sex tapes. Lol, she'd be a sex offender for that today, along with the older guys she dated. In hindsight, even she (friend, not sister) agrees she was a pretty skanky teen, but that's just it -- a skanky, stupid TEEN. I'd be hard-pressed to agree she deserved charged for it, let alone the obviously older guys. She knew full well what she was doing, and she wasn't the one being taken advantage of back then. Not by a long-shot. Same goes for these sexting teens in CO, they knew what they were doing. They weren't thinking too well, but they knew what they were doing. It doesn't deserve charges.

Teens know exactly what they're doing. And they know they can usually get away with it because adults make excuses for them. They are not oblivious little angels.

They are kids, sending pictures to each other, so friggin what!!!
Why are people bothered by this?
If YOU think they deserve to be punished, then please state your reason.

Stupid does not = Crime!

originally posted by: VoidHawk
They are kids, sending pictures to each other, so friggin what!!!
Why are people bothered by this?
If YOU think they deserve to be punished, then please state your reason.

Stupid does not = Crime!

The legislation was set up decades ago. Back then if you wanted to make porn photography, you would need a studio or home, professional lighting, a camera (Polaroid Instamatic at least), a darkroom, camera film. It would cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. That was really restricted to organized crime, and so it was easy to pass legislation based on the age of the person, their state of dress and intent to distribute.

There was a similar cases back in 2000. Two teens found an old camera they thought was empty, played photoshoot, forgot about it, then got the used-up film reel developed at the printshop, and the cops arrive at their doorstep.

Now, it's even easier; smartphone with HD digital camera with film recording ability and microphone combined with wifi/bluetooth/phone network with automatic uploading to Youtube or webpage. Just click and send.

Things like this happen:
www.dailymail.co.uk...

This is so stupid. It's holding the child accountable as both an adult and a child to best get more charges. This certainly isn't putting the children first.

The people involved in pressing these charges should be brought up on fraud.

And not only are they not adults, but as teens, their sex lives are really private. All that can really be investigated carefully is if there was forced exposure, something done that is akin to blackmail or bullying or criminal activity. If its just them doing something that others are doing, I would respect privacy and not embarrass them as its not your business and teens usually have sex interests. That has been going on all my life, in my teens, teens were into sex. My mothers generation may have hidden things more, but they were also into sex, and there were all those abortions and kids disappearing to have babies and reappearing, just sickening instead of just dealing with this in a natural, NON POLICE STATE, way. I prefer not having this underground and hidden and just dealing honestly with kids and what is, that way you can guide your children and they're not lying.

originally posted by: IridiumFlareMadness
Teens know exactly what they're doing. And they know they can usually get away with it because adults make excuses for them. They are not oblivious little angels.

I don't think teens are aware of the long term consequences that may come about due to their actions. I had a fairly solid home, good values instilled in me, and looking back at some of the stupid things I did as a teen, I'm thankful the internet as it is now and our hyper-connected world did not exist then. There are things I might regret doing, but fortunately they are not recorded for instant consumption by anyone.

As for the main premise of the thread, kids being labelled as sex-offenders for texting explicit photos is simply ridiculous. It lowers the bar for what a real sex offence while potentially opening up a whole world of hurt for what are essentially sexually curious teens.

a reply to: stormcell

That link you supplied tells the story of a girl who was stripped while unconscious and photographed without her knowledge.
In this case the op states that teenagers are exchanging pictures of themselves with each other. I think this is quite different as each teenager is fully aware and consenting.

If a girl/boy sends a picture to his girl/boy friend and that person then places that picture on the internet for all to see that ought to lead to charges, but from what I read in the op that has not happened.
It seems the only people offended are those not taking part in the exchange!

At sixty with my children all grown up I dont have to worry about such things, maybe parents of teenagers see it differently, but I still fail to see why any crime has been committed.

They exchanged pictures of naked body parts, well, just watch tv for an hour and you'll see the same thing, and much much more!

originally posted by: VoidHawk
a reply to: stormcell

In this case the op states that teenagers are exchanging pictures of themselves with each other. I think this is quite different as each teenager is fully aware and consenting.

Hey

The teenagers are fully aware and consenting...but the "problem" is that it is considered "childporn"...I don't 100% agree...as it is only "childporn" if it is being viewed by an "adult".

I for one think our culture is too entirely backwards and awkward about nudity. In my humble opinion, it's a joke.

But...the reason I do think this is a bad thing for teens, is that it is conceivably something that could come back and bite them later on in life. Jobs, colleges, future relationships, etc.

Definitely the people pursuing this and pressing charges are the people with the problem...Makes me wonder if they are even human....makes a damn good case for believing in aliens if you ask me.

originally posted by: nullafides
But...the reason I do think this is a bad thing for teens, is that it is conceivably something that could come back and bite them later on in life. Jobs, colleges, future relationships, etc.

Hi.
Only if they're charged with something. If the authorities minded their own business and left the kids alone, there would be nothing to come back and bite them?

Personally I think its a rather silly/stupid thing to do, but as I wrote above, stupid does not = crime.