What is Sexting? Can YOUR Child Be Charged with Child Pornography?

Sexting? "What is that?" That was my first reaction when I heard a news story last week about some middle school age kids charged with this 'crime.' It didn't really hit home until I was talking about it to my kids and my 12 year old daughter said, "Dad, a girl and boy in my school were just caught doing that. Half the kids in the school have the picture or have seen it."

So, "sexting" is the act of sending a sexually explicit photo/video message via a cell phone. These are situations in which kids are taking inappropriate pictures of themselves or friends and then sharing them via cell phone.
Some may say, "oh that's just a 13 yr old boy doing what 13 yr old boys do." Well it's a lot more serious than that, folks. First of all, one of the first things kids will do is send/share the photo via cell to their friends and before you know it, an entire school can be aware of what has happened. In addition there's a good chance someone will share the picture via the Internet. Once that happens, it will be impossible to stop. Anything can happen with the picture from there.

Did you also know that if your child is caught sharing an inappropriate picture of him/herself or is caught sharing a photo of someone else that they can be charged with child pornography? They can be listed as a sex offender, a title that will dog them for life. Whether a judge will decide on that harsh a treatment for a 13 to 15 year old boy or girl is, of course, up to the court and how much of an example it wants to set for others.

Here's some examples recently in the news:

At Lawrence School in Falmouth, Massachusetts, six middle school boys could face felony child pornography charges in a sexting incident in January '09. Kudos to Principal Paul Fay who posted a letter to parents on the school web site informing them of the incident and asking that parents take an active part in talking to their children about the dangers of this practice.

In October of 2008, ABCNews.com reported that "A 15-year-old Ohio girl faces felony charges and may have to register as a sex offender for allegedly taking nude photos of herself and sending them to her high school classmates." Ken Owsalt the Ohio prosecutor told ABCNews.com, "There's a totally false perception among juveniles that there is no risk to this." "That picture, once taken and sent, gives anyone who receives it the ability to do anything with it, forever. If a picture of you found its way onto the Internet, that's going to haunt you, potentially forever."

Additionally, last May, a Wisconsin high school student was charged with child pornography for allegedly posting nude photos of his ex-girlfriend on the Internet. The boy told the authorities that the girl had sent him the pictures and he posted them on the Internet in revenge for breaking off the relationship.

Authorities are seeing more and more of these incidents.

So what can the schools and parents do to help stop this? Here are some suggestions:

1) Schools need to inform the parents of this type of increasing behavior. (Parents: talk to your school's adminstration about this!)

2) Schools need to conduct assemblies or other seminars/classes for the kids to let them know that this is NOT just harmless fun. Ideally, schools should invite someone from the law enforcement community to address the students and let them know that this behavior is a felony and what the legal ramifications can be.

3) Parents should talk openly to their children about the risks involved.

4) Parents should let the kids know that their or others' reputations can be scarred for life.

5) Parents should report any inappropriate images they find on their children's cell phones to police.

6) Parents should set clear rules about the children's proper behavior and expectations in using their cell phones. Parents should feel comfortable asking the kids to have their phones checked for inappropriate texting or sexting.

7) Parents and schools should explain to the kids that once something is posted on the Internet, they can't change their mind and get it back. ANYTHING posted can haunt them for life and can be seen by anyone years in the future (potential college recruiters, future employers, etc.)

Sources:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/WorldNews/story?id=6456834&page=1

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5995084&page=1

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090212/NEWS/902120318

http://www.falmouth.k12.ma.us/index.php/our-schools/lawrence