Thanks for posting this news story. I wrote about this same story yesterday, specifically dealing with the fact that two of the kids could be required to register as sex offenders, if convicted. Registries are for DANGEROUS predators, not stupid teenage kids. Here is my full article: http://crimeprevention.crimereports.com/2010/02/02/the-real-purpose-of-sex-offender-registries/

I welcome feedback as well, as to what to do about the growing problem of teen sexting.

Here we go again. He'll probably get charged as an adult and be forever labeled a sex offender. I'm telling you these kids do NOT think of the consequences!! They make stupid mistakes.

Here's another fine example:

I have a 15yr old niece who decided to take a look at the pics on her 15yr old boyfriends cell phone. Well low and behold some girl that liked him had sent him an x-rated pic of herself. Niece gets mad and forwards it to everyone in his phone. Immature? Yes. Stupid? Yes. Malicious? Yes. A criminal act? In your mind...yes ...in her mind...no. She had no idea it was considered child porn and that she had just broken the law. When we explained it to her she was terrified.

The people in the law that call pornographic pictures of teenagers child porn are complete idiots. They have no understanding of proper language use and definitions. There use of semantics is illogical and flawed.

This same thing actually happened to my friend back when he was 15-16. He was at a party and two girls started making out and getting naked..so he started recording it on his phone. Got caught out past cerfew months later and they took his phone..which that video happened to be his background. They charged him with child pornography and he now has to file as a sex offender until he is 30 years old.

Adding to my above comment..

the girls where the same age as him, and they consented to the video.

This stuff happens all the time. It isn't right that that kid sent it around to everyone. Didn't a girl kill herself just a few months ago because of the same thing? She sent a boy a picture of herself..he sent it to everyone. she hung herself. Sad disgusting world.

I agree with you Subspace. Its like the people that get labeled sex offenders because they were charged with statutory rape. They have sex with a consenting teen but the laws says the teen is to young to consent. Puleeze.

Too young to consent my arse!! Bet if that same teen killed her mother they wouldn't think she was too young.

Easy solution: No cell phones with cameras until 18.
More complex: All cell phones forward pictures taken to the adult account registered to it. Mom and Dad are always watching....

Great idea John. Can that actually be done?

My oh my, this just recently happened at my children's high school. Same scenario - girl takes naked picture of herself and sends it via cell phone to a couple of boys, and well, you know the rest. The school threatened those in possession of said picture on their cell phones would face criminal charges. I say BULLSHIT!! How about charging the teenagers who take naked pictures of themselves and sending them off - how about charging them with manufacturing child porn??? Hmm??

Yeah, it's a poor application of sex offender laws, and I'm surprised it is even used this way. If the kids are the same thing, it shouldn't even be in the same category. I mean, if the girl is 13 and the kid 19, that's another story. The main downside I see to it, besides it just being unethical to apply it that way, is it gives all the people who want to do away with age-of-consent laws and sex offender registries something to bitch about and point fingers at how the whole thing is wrong, which I don't think it is.

I don't get why people are so down on age-of-consent laws, Cheryl. I mean, isn't it obvious if we don't have some sort of threshold, that sleazy men are always going to push the limits? I am sure there are some 10 year olds whose predators were so slick and effective and paced the whole process carefully enough that they could probably find it hard for her to deny she consented. That's like the whole basis of NAMBLA, on the converse side. I tend to think especially when women get worked up over that, it is because they think back to being 16 and some guy in his 20s seducing them. I don't think it makes it right. Lots of girls do stuff to rebel, etc. But are you going to feel good about it when it's your 16 year old daughter and the nice, supposedly harmless guy is 30? Where is the cut-off? It's the legal age of consent!

What does a 14 year old need with a camera/cellphone anyway, as long as kids going through puberty have the means of sending pictures of the opposite sex's body parts, they're going to send them! Sex offender? No way! Kids being stupid and learning from their stupidity? Yup! When I was in 7th grade 13-14 me and all the other boys would go around snapping girls bras (hey it was a new thing to us, girls wearing bras, boys will be boys) well a teacher found out about the "fad" and we got a stern talking to, we were embarassed when our parents got called (or threatened to get called) and we learned that wasn't the way to act. Like I said boys will be boys, I guarentee if everyone had a cell phone with a camera back then I'm sure we would have been sending pictures around too. Sit them down, teach them right from wrong, TAKE THE PHONES AWAY, and let them go on with life, learning from their adolescent mistakes.

Why is it always the young boys that are being threatened with being labeled a sex offender? I mean, yea what they did was wrong. Really wrong. But, why don't the girls get charged with something too? Sure, they have the embarrasment of being the girl in the picture that was passed around. But they were the ones who took the photo! And enough of this has happened, why won't these young girls get a freakin clue?!?! Naked photo of yourself + boy + break-up/falling out/boys will be boys= a bih nasty mess for everyone involved.

Should the boys get charged with being a sex offened for the rest of their lives? Eh, not really agreeing with that. Should they, along with the girl from the photo, get reprimanded? Oh hell yea. A girl not so long ago killed herself over this exact same thing. When will kids, as well as their parents learn?

I agree with john. No cell phones with cameras (they do stil make those!) until they are 18. Or just make it so a parent can moniter the pictures without having to take the phone away. That way the kid can't make up a lie or try to hide it. Being nosy? Yea, but if it prevents things like this, I'm all for it.

marie heck,
There actually are ways parents can monitor what text messages go to and from their kids phones, acn't remember the specifics but I remember reading about it. They have an account online or something where if they wanted to they can view all texts/pic messages going to and from the cell phone.

J, I'm simply making a comparison to some of the other stories that are in here. If a 14 year old can be held accountable for commiting a murder and sent to an adult prison for life then a 14 year should be able to have sex if they want. I'm in no way saying that minors should be having sex .... I'm simply pointing out that we have some really flawed laws.

Look at it this way....does it make sense that an 18 - 19 yr old boy can vote, join the military, die for his country but can't go to the store and buy a beer?

Our system is fucked up.

OMG this is Nuts,Ok Yeah he shouldn't of sent off to all his friends,& what he did wasn't Nice,& As a Mom I Would be Pissed Too, BUT NOT at him, Oh No I'd Be pissed that My 14 year old & her Friend is out walkin around topless & sendin off Pix,I doubt I'd go on the news for all the world to see my daughter & her friend are out actin slutty,I'd Prob beat her ass, Yes we all do & did dumb shit,BUT if he is getting chargers pressed against him for child porn Then why isn't she, she took the photos of the child porn, not just of herself,But of her friend also not just taking the child porn, also distributing it as well & I know that is also against the law, yes this sounds Crazy,They screwed up she shouldn't of taken the photo shouldn't of sent the photo, & he shouldn't of shared the photo, BUT for the love of Peaches No One should be Branded with such a crime over something so STUPID

This is so ridiculous it's not even funny. The kids were obviously wrong for texting the picture of the girl. The girl was wrong for sending the picture. But RSO labels for them? Come on! It's absurd. Our whole SO system needs to be revamped. Yes, there are serious offenders out there who need to be treated with serious consequences, but there are also kids out there that do dumb shit. Why treat them the same as the pedos and perverts? This has got to stop.

They should make an exception for children in possession of child pornography. It should perhaps still be punishable (I don't see anything wrong with it,) but it certainly should not be treated the same way as an adult in possession of explicit photos of minors.

I'm on the fence on issues like this. I try to apply the "would I be concerned if he lived next to me" rule to these stories as often as I can. I wouldn't be concerned if this boy lived next to me. If I were the girl's mother, she'd be grounded with no cell phone access for the foreseeable future. In my eyes, the girls don't get a pass for sending nude pics to their boyfriends, they're just as wrong as the boys. I don't necessarily think the sex offender tag should be applied to either party, though. They should both be punished for their part in this. If she hadn't send the pictures, he couldn't have forwarded them. The girl did not intend for everyone and their brother to see the pictures and the boy obviously did it out of spite.

On the other hand, though, would we be having the same conversation if the girl sent nude pics to a 40 year-old man? We'd probably be saying he's a creep and a pervert for hitting on a 15 year-old girl. That's why I don't necessarily know how I feel about the whole thing.

I don't know. I feel like sexting is another form of bullying. I think there really needs to be a clear message sent to teenagers that this is pornography. This is child porn. There are a lot of kids that have done stupid things and have a record of it. I think parents really need to sit their kids down and talk to them. Anything you do, will be used against you. That photo will be floating around for years to come. When she gets a job, that photo might pop-up. Look at how many sex tapes are "appearing".

Has anyone of the commenters been a teenager? I guess so. Can you remember what it was like? I guess not, well - I'm pretty sure of that.

Hello? It's normal/natural that teenagers start to care for the other gender, which might include trying to see other teenagers naked - or even fondling them! In todays society you have easy means to take and transfer photos - yes, that's a problem, but why in the world do you have to criminalize this behaviour? As other have pointed out, concerning violence, it's ok if teens see brutal movies or get treated as an adult, if they commit crimes - if it concerns their sexuality, you'd like to treat them as children until they are 21 - and no, I'm not talking about adults sneaking up on kids/teens half their age.

You got to be kidding,

I'm not entirely sure what the point is behind your comment. We all have pretty much agreed that the boy shouldn't get the punishment he might get. Most of us have said the girl should get in trouble to. So, please elborate a little more cause maybe its my migraine meds, but I'm not gettin it!

And I'm 25, I very well remember what it was like to be a teenager since it wasn't that long ago and I would never do this. It never ends up good. Hell, as an adult, I have been asked by previous boyfriends (and even my husband when he was away from home for awhile) to do this, and the answer is always no! To the boyfriends, they could get pissed and do the same thing and I would be all over the place! To my husband, well accidents happen and he could accidently send it, so I'm not taking that chance! Teenager or adult, its just wrong and it usually always end up bad!

Nothing more needs to be said, this says it all. You are the Man! "tagged with 'Rotten Little Bastards' Washington"

What is going on with our youth? Why would a 14-year-old girl send her boy-friend a nude picture of herself? There are some self-esteem problems there. Young people now-of-day do not make any sense. She had to know on some level what her ex-boyfriend was like. She also had to know when they broke up that he may do something vicious. Especially, how they broke up. Did she break up with him or did he catch her cheating? The girls is walking a dangerous line. He mother better pull her in now or will suffer dearly later.
The mother should be outraged with her daughter. Did she have some knowledge of her daughter's mischievousness? well different strokes for different folks.

Laura, there is absolutely no way we can assume she knew how her boyfriend might react in the future. People who have been married, to each other, for over 50 years, sometimes still find out new things about their spouse in the years to come. My point is, that even if she may have been with him for x amount of time, this does not mean she knows who he is and what he is willing to do.

And with today's youth.. the things they do sometimes, isn't a self esteem issue. Sometimes they do it just for fun. Or the idea that they know it's wrong, do it for the thrill. The world is a very sexual place. That can be good or bad, depending on how it's applied. It doesn't help that the music, books and movies, even T.V. shows, of today, push sexual content like nobodies business. Today's youth is growing up in a world that's constantly bombarded with that stuff. And today's parents, a good majority of them, have NO idea what their kids are in to! So, as much as I would like to say that it's all these kid's fault, it's simply not so. A part of it is the lack of parenting.. like it or not.

(This part not aimed at Laura)
And often times WANTING to see the opposite sex naked has to do with lust. Rarely does it involve "Caring" for them... at least at that age.

It will only get worse the more we allow movies, books, music, T.V shows, magazines, etc. etc. babysit today's youth.

When will these kids and their whining parents learn? It is atleast just as much fun for the authorities to charge a 14 year old as to charge an adult.

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. When I was in school sexting wasn't a problem because nobody had a cell phone back then. BUT...I do remember in 9th grade when a girl I knew had taken some POLAROIDS of herself naked and GIVEN them to her boyfriend at the time. Well needless to say they were passed around the school. I consider myself to be TOTALLY against pedophiles and sick perverts, but as a 14 year old boy, I did take the photos home for an evening, like a lot of other guys in school. I didn't know I was looking at CHILD PORN, I thought I was just looking at a naked girl MY AGE. Since then, the youngest naked woman I've seen are the girls on the Girls Gone Wild videos, as I'm more into mature women anyway, BUT according to this logic nowadays, I would have been convicted of possesion/distribution of child porn for my actions back then. The girl....well she turned out fine and I talk to her today, she didn't kill herself, or become strung out, or a hooker, she's a mom, who learned early that you should never photograph yourself naked if you don't intend on showing the whole world.
Just because these kids have a virtual polaroid camera in their phones 24-7 doesn't make them any different than we were. It just makes them stupid teenagers, which we are ALL guilty of being for at least several years of our lives. Sending these kids to Juv. Det. Centers or forcing them to register as Sex Offenders is treating them like ADULTS and not the stupid teenagers that they are. In my opininion CHILD PORN should be subject to the viewers age. I personally think that a 65 year old man who attempts to woo an 18 yr old is just as sick as the 64 yr old man who tries to woo a 17 yr old girl. It's all about relativity...JMO