Girl, 14, arrested for posting nude MySpace pics

This kind of thing was brought up before, but in reality you cannot be both the victim and the perpetrator of this kind of crime. And changing those laws are dangerous. Teenagers are often sexual at this age, even with parental controls, unless those controls are extreme, which is not healthy either. Sexual offender laws and registering as a paedophile are for offenders. The photos could not therefore be of herself, as that makes her the victim.

Originally posted by calihan_12

kids get a lot of their information from the media. its a sad truth more people need to realize, and without media we'd be much better off.

The parents are the ones to blame for allowing such ignorant behavior from their children.

It's not the gun's fault for the shooting death.
It's not the hamburger's fault for the heart attack.
It's not the media's fault if people fall into the shallow idol worship they peddle.

Arrest her, fine

Get in her head to find out what's going on, I'm ok with that too

Probation, maybe

Make her register as a sex offender.... stupid

I think the parents need to be investigated to an extent, but even then there is a point the parents just can't control everything due to any kind of punishment being considered child abuse these days.

From the article linked in the OP...

The teen, whose name has not been released because of her age, was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. She was released to her mother's custody.

If convicted of the distribution charge, she would be forced to register with the state as a sex offender under Megan's Law, said state Attorney General Anne Milgram. She also could face up to 17 years in jail, though such a stiff sentence is unlikely.

She shouldn't have posted nude pictures of herself online at 14. She needs some help, more parental involvement, etc. I agree with all of that.

But - she's still a kid. She did something dumb. The charges she's up against could ruin this poor girl's life forever. Yes, she needs help - but in my opinion this level of charges is just overkill. Its like using a cannon to to swat a fly. She needs help - but I think the level of charges is just out of line.

im not saying i lived back then.. im saying YOU are not a youth of today, and i know how youth are now, and it concerns me how obsessed they are with media.

I know, from my own experiences, not from my guessing.


Parents are definitely not always to blame. sometimes they are, many times they arent.

You have to realize every person is their own person, and regardless of if they have good parents or not, they are going to live their life the way they want to.

Many kids I knew were great kids when they were younger, and once they had the chance to leave home they were rebelious and promiscuous and into many drugs.

DONT blame the parents when its a person's choice. Not the parents choices

Originally posted by calihan_12
DONT blame the parents when its a person's choice. Not the parents choices

Aha! There we have it, it is no more the parents fault than it is the medias fault as you claimed.

Personal responsibility. A phrase kids today know nothing about.

Originally posted by calihan_12


Its a cop out to always blame the parents.

It's a cop-out to blame anyone but the parents. Parents are parents for a reason.

Parents are not suppose to be their kid's buddy. Parents are not suppose to be absent. Parents are not suppose to let the media raise their children.

Parents are suppose to be parents.

While I agree that the girl being labeled a sex offender for the rest of her life is way too harsh, blaming anyone but her and her parents for her actions is ridiculous.

Over to 4chan I go....

er wait, yeah it's dumb to register her as a sex offender. So many kids do this stuff, I know I wanted to at that age.

I agree that she IS baiting and that straight up pisses me off, but she shouldn't be registered.

Girls her age do not understand the consequence of their actions, and when you couple that with a sense of moral non-responsibility like many teenagers have it's a witches brew of nasty.


Also, I agree with what calihan_12 is saying. In many cases the parents are powerless to stop this type of behavior. I mean what are they going to do, ground the kid? That doesn't work anymore.
They can't spank the kid, they'll get visited by the DHS; I know this for a fact my mom was a child welfare worker for 10 years before it nearly drove her to suicide.
Parents are losing control over kids; this isn't anybodys "fault" but more of a symptom. Most kids ARE obsessed with media, ask a teen to name 4 people who ran for president in the last election and then ask a teen to name 4 contestants on American Idol.
Get my point?

[edit on 27-3-2009 by Mr Headshot]

bottom line, parents cant watch their kids 24/7

a perfectly decent child can have raging hormones and do something like post nude pictures of themselves.

you must be blind to think thats not the case.

If any of you have children, you dont always know what your child is doing 24/7 and you shouldnt be held responsible for all of their screw ups.

Originally posted by calihan_12
im not saying i lived back then.. im saying YOU are not a youth of today, and i know how youth are now, and it concerns me how obsessed they are with media.

Uh. Yes I do know the youth of today. One im a mom and two, I have worked as youth counselors. So, I know the youth of yesterday and today.

Parents are definitely not always to blame. sometimes they are, many times they arent.

Parents are ultimately responsible for their child's life up until they are of legal age - 18. Everything they do, comes back to them. Do kids rebel? Yes. But there are ways to keep them from rebelling like this. It just takes some effort and desire on the part of the parents.

You have to realize every person is their own person, and regardless of if they have good parents or not, they are going to live their life the way they want to.

You have to realize that a 14yr old girl is a CHILD and it is the parent's responsiblity to make sure she is not screwing up her life and behaving in such a way online. That child is still under the responsiblity of the parents and no, they do NOT have the right to live their life as they so please. However, many parents dont give a rat's arse and let their child do so, as we see.

Many kids I knew were great kids when they were younger, and once they had the chance to leave home they were rebelious and promiscuous and into many drugs.

Yep, that would be me - though I never did drugs. Because my parents failed to be involved enough in my life to inform me of what life was really like. I left home and was opened to a huge new world. My parents failed at communication.

DONT blame the parents when its a person's choice. Not the parents choices

It is the parent's choice to allow a child - CHILD - to have free reign on a computer.

Originally posted by calihan_12
bottom line, parents cant watch their kids 24/7

Don't have to, I can give you a single sentence that if uttered by the parents could have stopped this before it ever happened.

"Nude images of anyone under the age of 18 are considered illegal; don't take any of yourself until then."

parents are not saints. they cant have all the answers and all the right information, especially when they, themselves, werent raised right.

to expect them to do so is absurd.

my boyfriend has a deep hatred for his parents, solely because his dad was an actor when he was a little kid, and because of his days acting and interactment with so many fake people, his dad has since had severe anxiety and depression.

Because of that, my boyfriend thinks he has severe anxiety and depression because he has the same genes as his dad.

When you tell kids that their parents are responsible for them and the way they think and act... you start brainwashing those children into thinking they are supposed to be like their parents when in fact everyone has their own thoughts and feelings and mind.

More children need to be taught to think for THEMSELVES.

reply to post by calihan_12


Children can think for themselves......when they grow up. Kids are kids for a reason, and that reason is not to act and behave like adults. They don't know how.

Parents are parents for a reason: to teach their children right from wrong.

Obviously, this girl either didn't know or didn't care what was right or what was wrong. Who is to blame for that? Her and her parents.

Those are the only 3 to blame for this, who are responsible for this, and who should have to deal with the consequences of this.

reply to post by ThePiemaker


I do agree with you that people need to be less prudish.

But when you are a young teen, you have no idea what you are doing. Neurologists are saying more and more that the teenage and young adult brain is nutty, and they can't always make rational decisions. So until a child has matured, the parents and society are responsible for helping kids make the right decision.

This girl doesnt' know what she wants. Four years is a long time in teenage land. She may decide later on she wants to go to a prestigious school. But now gets rejected because of those photos.

So not only is her future decided on a couple of snapshots, she could actually be a very smart person and the community loses a member who could of contributed quite a bit.

Teens are filled with a bravado that they are untouchable, or you can recover from anything.

Read up on some of the stories of girls whose lives were ruined from being on girls gone wild videos.

Not only that, since people do recongize them, they are petitioned all the time by men who think they are free prostitutes. Because for a few moments, that is how they acted.

Then when these women grow up, all of a sudden, their children's friends find the pics, and it circulates schools, then the children have to face the ridicule. So a simple act can have profound problems for years.

the internet is unforgiving.

Originally posted by skeptic1
reply to post by calihan_12

 

Children can think for themselves......when they grow up. Kids are kids for a reason, and that reason is not to act and behave like adults. They don't know how.

Parents are parents for a reason: to teach their children right from wrong.

Obviously, this girl either didn't know or didn't care what was right or what was wrong. Who is to blame for that? Her and her parents.

Those are the only 3 to blame for this, who are responsible for this, and who should have to deal with the consequences of this.

I can see your points, and I do agree with you for the most part. I just feel that parents have too much blame on their shoulders and as much as they would like to guide their children in the right directions, they cant always be there to, especially when both parents work full time jobs to pay the bills, and dont always have the time to spend with their children.

Thats one of the problems of today, higher costs of homes and bills and now both parents have to work in order to afford living and taking care of their families.

Originally posted by calihan_12
More children need to be taught to think for THEMSELVES.

You are right, but who do you think is responsible for teaching them this?

It certainly ain't the government (they don't want you to think for yourself); it's definitely not other kids (when that happens we get TV shows like "jackass"). No, it is most definitely the responsibility of the parents.

Originally posted by calihan_12
parents are not saints. they cant have all the answers and all the right information, especially when they, themselves, werent raised right.

to expect them to do so is absurd.

No we are not but it doesn't take a genius to check your kid's myspace page.

my boyfriend has a deep hatred for his parents, solely because his dad was an actor when he was a little kid, and because of his days acting and interactment with so many fake people, his dad has since had severe anxiety and depression.

Because of that, my boyfriend thinks he has severe anxiety and depression because he has the same genes as his dad.

You contradicted yourself there. I guess your boyfriend doesn't share the same views.It is very possible his father was an actor because of his anxiety.
Yes, a lot of mental health disorders are inherited. So it is not fair for your bf to hate his father.
There are medications and therapy that can greatly help him with that. He needs to quite blaming others and pursue his own treatment.

When you tell kids that their parents are responsible for them and the way they think and act... you start brainwashing those children into thinking they are supposed to be like their parents when in fact everyone has their own thoughts and feelings and mind.

Guess what, parents are responsible for the way their kids think and act. If a child really screws up, the parents have to foot the bill.
people do have their own thoughts and feelings. But it doesn't give them the right to act like hooligans and put their parents into difficult positions..
That is what society is all about, your actions affect others.That is what parents teach.

More children need to be taught to think for THEMSELVES.

Thinking for yourself is deciding your career or what school you want to go to. Stripping because you have a low self esteem and you want others to oggle at you and give you sexy praises is not. What others think of her is NOT thinking for herself.

In fact, a good self confidence is the best thing a parent can teach. And confidence is a person thinking for themselves.

reply to post by nixie_nox


But it all revolved around other people caring she posed naked and treating her negatively because of it. The problem isn't with her, it's with everyone else. But this society is too twisted to see that.

true that the girl was probably just insecure and was trying to gain attention by negative means..

but i know i, and my brothers, have done plenty of things my parents dont know about and never will.

lets not act like saints here and claim that our parents control every aspect of our lives, because they dont. They guide us.. but at the end of the day we still have the choice of how to act or who to be.

[edit on 27-3-2009 by calihan_12]

I don't see how she could be registered as a sex offender:

The teen, whose name has not been released because of her age, was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography.

If she's too young to have her name mentioned in the media how could they release it to a registor?