Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Teens, Nude Photos and the Law
Newsweek ^ | February 14, 2009

Posted on 02/17/2009 4:22:46 PM PST by NCjim

Ask yourself: should the police be involved when tipsy teen girls e-mail their boyfriends naughty Valentine's Day pictures?

Say you're a middle-school principal who confiscated a cell phone from a 14-year-old boy, only to discover it contains a nude photo of his 13-year-old girlfriend. Do you (a) call the boy's parents in despair; (b) call the girl's parents in despair; or (c) call the police? More and more, the answer is (d) all of the above. Which could result in criminal charges for both of your students, and their eventual designation as sex offenders. "Sexting" is the clever new name for the act of sending, receiving or forwarding naked photos via your cell phone, and I wasn't fully convinced that America was facing a sexting epidemic, as opposed to a journalists-writing-about-sexting epidemic, until I saw a new survey done by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. One teenager in five reported having sent or posted naked photos of themselves. Whether all this reflects a new child-porn epidemic, or just a new iteration of the old teen narcissism epidemic, remains unclear.

Last month, three girls (ages 14 or 15) in Greensburg, Pa., were charged with disseminating child pornography for sexting their boyfriends. The boys who received the images were charged with possession. A teenager in Indiana faces felony obscenity charges for sending a picture of his genitals to female classmates. A 15-year-old girl in Ohio and a 14-year-old girl in Michigan were charged with felonies for sending nude images of themselves to classmates. Some of these teens have pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Others have not. If convicted, these young people may have to register as sex offenders, in some cases for a decade or two.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-95 next last
To: mysterio
Why can't people look at this stuff rationally? Am I the only one who remembers what it was like to be a kid?

Stop that! You're making sense.

21 posted on 02/17/2009 4:37:20 PM PST by Las Vegas Ron (Obama says we should listen to our enemies, but not to Rush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: NCjim

13 year old girls didnt mail or even dream of having a nude picture taken when I was 13, and I knew a lot of them

This is what is happening to the morals of our country, Thanks in part to Bill Clinton who did the most to lower those morals. Before Clinton Oral sex was sex. Most kids didnt do it. Didnt know about it in fatc, but Bubba clued tham in and it’s been down hill ever since , with prayer out of school and sex educations classes in.


22 posted on 02/17/2009 4:38:21 PM PST by Venturer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mysterio

“Am I the only one who remembers what it was like to be a kid?”

Was it like this then?

Estimating how many sexually transmitted disease or infection cases occur is not a simple or straightforward task. First, most STDs/STIs can be “silent,” causing no noticeable symptoms. These asymptomatic infections can be diagnosed only through testing. Unfortunately, routine screening programs are not widespread, and social stigma and lack of public awareness concerning STDs/STIs often inhibits frank discussion between health care providers and patients about STD/STI risk and the need for testing.

— ASHA. Sexually Transmitted Diseases in America: How Many Cases and at What Cost? December 1998.

More than half of all people will have an STD/STI at some point in their lifetime. [1]
*
The estimated total number of people living in the US with a viral STD/STI is over 65 million. [2] Every year, there are at least 19 million new cases of STDs/STIs, some of which are curable. [2,3]
*
More than $8 billion is spent each year to diagnose and treat STDs/STIs and their complications. This figure does not include HIV. [4]
*
In a national survey of US physicians, fewer than one-third routinely screened patients for STDs/STIs. [5]
*
Less than half of adults ages 18 to 44 have ever been tested for an STD/STI other than HIV/AIDS.
*
Each year, one in four teens contracts an STD/STI. [6]
*
One in two sexually active persons will contact an STD/STI by age 25. [7]
*
About half of all new STDs/STIs in 2000 occurred among youth ages 15 to 24. [8] The total estimated costs of these nine million new cases of these STDs/STIs was $6.5 billion, with HIV and human papillomavirus (HPV) accounting for 90% of the total burden. [9]
*
Of the STDs/STIs that are diagnosed, only some (gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, hepatitis A and B) are required to be reported to state health departments and the CDC.
*
One out of 20 people in the United States will get infected with hepatitis B (HBV) some time during their lives. [10] Hepatitis B is 100 times more infectious than HIV. [11]
*
Approximately half of HBV infections are transmitted sexually. [12] HBV is linked to chronic liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer.
*
Hepatitis A, hepatitis B and HPV are the only vaccine-preventable STDs/STIs. (Not all HPV types are covered by the vaccine, so women who receive it still need Pap tests.)
*
It is estimated that as many as one in five Americans have genital herpes, a lifelong (but manageable) infection, yet up to 90 percent of those with herpes are unaware they have it. [13]
*
With more than 50 million adults in the US with genital herpes and up to 1.6 million new infections each year, some estimates suggest that by 2025 up to 40% of all men and half of all women could be infected. [14,15,16]
*
Over 6 million people acquire HPV each year, and by age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have acquired genital HPV infection. [17] Most people with HPV do not develop symptoms. Some researchers believe that HPV infections may self-resolve and may not be lifelong like herpes. [2]
*
Cervical cancer in women, while preventable through regular Paps, is linked to high-risk types of HPV.
*
Each year, there are almost 3 million new cases of chlamydia, many ofwhich are in adolescents and young adults. [8] The CDC recommends that sexually active females 25 and under should be screened at least once a year for chlamydia, even if no symptoms are present.
*
About two-thirds of young females believe doctors routinely screen teens for chlamydia. [18] However, in 2003 only 30% of women 25 and under with commercial health care plans and 45% in Medicaid plans were screened for chlamydia. [19]
*
At least 15 percent of all American women who are infertile can attribute it to tubal damage caused by pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) , the result of an untreated STD. Consistent condom use reduces the risk of recurrent PID and related complications: significantly, women who reported regular use of condoms in one study were 60 percent less likely to become infertile. [20]
*
Consistent condom use provides substantial protection against the acquisition of many STDs, including statistically significant reduction of risk against HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, herpes, and syphilis. [21,22,23]
*
Some studies show that, for those who already have a clinically apparent genital HPV infection, using condoms promotes the regression of HPV lesions in both women and men. [24,25]


23 posted on 02/17/2009 4:40:06 PM PST by jessduntno ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpU8sX10_4)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: jessduntno
Was it like this then?

Yeah, pretty much. I was a teenager in the 90s.
24 posted on 02/17/2009 4:42:22 PM PST by mysterio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: NCjim
Say you're a middle-school principal who confiscated a cell phone from a 14-year-old boy, only to discover it contains a nude photo of his 13-year-old girlfriend. Do you (a) call the boy's parents in despair; (b) call the girl's parents in despair; or (c) call the police?

None of the above.
First off, if I'm the principal and I confiscate the phone, I simply confiscate it, I don't go through it.
Moreover, if I accidentally notice such a picture, I pretend I didn't see it. It's not my business what students are saying to each other over private communication lines that extend beyond school.
25 posted on 02/17/2009 4:43:43 PM PST by arderkrag (Liberty Walking (www.geocities.com/arderkrag))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NCjim

I wonder if they’d say anything if the two parties involved were queer? So far I’m only seeing straight kids getting harassed over this.


26 posted on 02/17/2009 4:44:44 PM PST by MahatmaGandu (Remember, remember, the twenty-sixth of November.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mysterio

“Yeah, pretty much. I was a teenager in the 90s.”

Glad your OK - but it was NOT like this, even then...


27 posted on 02/17/2009 4:45:04 PM PST by jessduntno ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWpU8sX10_4)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Las Vegas Ron

“What gives him the authority to do that?”

It’s amazing when and when not they believe in loco parentis.


28 posted on 02/17/2009 4:45:08 PM PST by A Strict Constructionist (I'm studying Voodoo...curses cast daily. Landrieu be gone to the devil...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: mysterio
No teenager who has a naked picture of his GF should be a sex offender unless he forcibly stripped her down to take the photo.

Yep. Far too many have knee-jerk reactions over stuff like this.
29 posted on 02/17/2009 4:45:25 PM PST by arderkrag (Liberty Walking (www.geocities.com/arderkrag))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Las Vegas Ron

Schools could care less about student’s Constitutional rights. Prisons care more about kids rights than do schools.


30 posted on 02/17/2009 4:47:07 PM PST by MahatmaGandu (Remember, remember, the twenty-sixth of November.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: NoLibZone
Ask yourself: should the police be involved when tipsy teen girls e-mail their boyfriends naughty Valentine's Day pictures?

I'm asking myself why the principal should be moseying through the content of a students cell phone.

31 posted on 02/17/2009 4:48:27 PM PST by paul51 (11 September 2001 - Never forget (July 4, 2009 see you there))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: jessduntno
Sure it was. All the teenagers were screwing each other from 7th grade on. I waited until I was 19. Half of my school would be registered sex offenders now for messing around with their sophomore girlfriends when they were seniors.

If you want it to stop, start injecting kids with hormones that make them not go through puberty until 18. You're about as likely to keep curious teens apart as you are to keep your kitten from going through heat. Maybe the government should just spay and neuter everyone so they don't do anything naughty.
32 posted on 02/17/2009 4:49:50 PM PST by mysterio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Mr. Blonde

>>but we really need a new line in the sand
>>about what requires registering as a sex offender.

Wall Street drew lots of “new lines” - how’s that working out?


33 posted on 02/17/2009 4:50:13 PM PST by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an acorn!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: mysterio
Am I the only one who remembers what it was like to be a kid?

Yes I agree but then again I also brought a pocket knife to school from about age 11 on. I played cowboy and indian and used my thumb and forefinger and said 'BANG'.

If you have been around FR for any length of time you will know that either of these activities would get a kid expelled AND possibly have a criminal record as well. Whot a Wold!?!?

34 posted on 02/17/2009 4:50:45 PM PST by SES1066 (Cycling to conserve, Conservative to save, Saving to Retire, will Retire to Cycle.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: MahatmaGandu
Schools could care less about student’s Constitutional rights. Prisons care more about kids rights than do schools.

Oh, now you started something. The authoritarian morons will be along shortly claiming that "children have no constitutional rights blahblahblah".
35 posted on 02/17/2009 4:51:09 PM PST by arderkrag (Liberty Walking (www.geocities.com/arderkrag))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Las Vegas Ron

exactly


36 posted on 02/17/2009 4:52:03 PM PST by valkyry1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: mysterio
Sure it was. All the teenagers were screwing each other from 7th grade on. I waited until I was 19. Half of my school would be registered sex offenders now for messing around with their sophomore girlfriends when they were seniors.

I graduated HS in 1982 and one of my classmates was 16 and boinking an English teacher whom he married after graduation. And the "God Squad" of popular kids was infamous for all sorts of promiscuity and etc. Hell, half of MY class would be sex offenders these days.

37 posted on 02/17/2009 4:53:18 PM PST by MahatmaGandu (Remember, remember, the twenty-sixth of November.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Venturer
Before Clinton Oral sex was sex. Most kids didnt do it. Didnt know about it in fatc, but Bubba clued tham in and it’s been down hill ever since , with prayer out of school and sex educations classes in.

Yep, prior to Bill Clinton there was no oral sex.

38 posted on 02/17/2009 4:53:25 PM PST by Doe Eyes
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: SES1066

I took my little pen knife to school a couple times in grade school, but even in the 80s I had to hide it. Just took it in to show a friend. Now I’d probably be in violation of the patriot act somehow, that’s how serious they take it.


39 posted on 02/17/2009 4:53:42 PM PST by mysterio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: NCjim
Ask yourself: should the police be involved...

It seems this is not only a gross violation of common sense, but also a bogus legal issue.

The only reason for sex offender status is that the girl in this situation is underaged. The boys would not be cited if they had a picture of a nude woman who was of legal age.

Why? Because the underaged girl, for the purposes of the law, is considered non compis mentis (not of sound mind) because of her age.

Well then, what about the boys? They too are underaged. Which means their activities in receiving said picture (given that they did not in any way force the girl to disrobe) were done as equally underage, equally non compis mentis, juveniles.

Otherwise they would be being tried as adults, over a crime which is a crime solely because of the underage status of the girl, when they themselves are just as underaged as the girl.

And if the law is "protecting" her because she is not yet of age to protect herself, then it likewise must be invoked to "protect" the boys from their mistakes in precisely this identical subject matter.

In short, unless there is an adult who is deemed responsible under the law who can be charged, no one can be charged - for the very reason the law "protecting" juveniles exists. And if you try to charge the boys as adults, you are forced to make the same presumption for the girl, in which case there is no charge to make because there are no juveniles left.

Criminalizing kids fooling around - especially making it a life-sentence - is insane. It cannot be morally nor legally justified, and serves to create tyranny and undermine the validity of true child abuse. And in doing so, it sets up the eventual destruction of genuinely protective child abuse laws.

40 posted on 02/17/2009 4:55:24 PM PST by Talisker (When you find a turtle on top of a fence post, you can be damn sure it didn't get there on it's own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-95 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson