I came across this article today (I know, it's a bit old) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28679588/ that said teens would be facing charges of child pornography for taking pictures of themselves naked and sending them to others. In this case, it was teen girls who sent them to teen boys.

Both the girls and boys were facing charges.

"The female students ... face charges of manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography while the boys ... face charges of possession."

Do you consider this to be child porn, considering that the people involved are under-age?

It seems that each of the teens involved were willingly involved. There wasn't any indication that the girls or boys were being forced into taking, sending, or receiving the pictures. Does this influence your opinion about if/how this should be dealt with?

What kind of punishment do you think would be fitting for this crime?

Suppose one of your teachers found pictures like this on your or a friend's phone. How would you feel if they saw those pictures? What if your parents were the ones who found them? Or your boss? Or your significant other's parents? Or your kids?

I'm just curious about what you all think about this and classifying it as child pornography, especially.

Taking nude photos of yourself is ok. But it's really what's done w/ them. If you're going to send them to your crush, friends etc. that's a bad idea. If you just have them for yourself personally, I think it's a different story. Taking personal photos isn't meant for distribution nor for profit. Also, sometimes it's good to have photos like these so you can compare how your body was to how it is now. Ex) estimating when a person got a cancer lump.

But be careful with these pics. I haven't taken nude photos but if I did, I'd take the pics and upload them on my computer. I'd save those photos to a memory stick and then delete them off the camera card and computer. Then I'd put the memory stick someplace that nobody could get to like a vault in a bank. One time, I xeroxed my butt. I did it just to say I did but I don't even have my own copy. I took them hot off the press and ran them straight through a paper shredder. I did a classic juvenile thing but made sure that they didn't get into the wrong hands and that I didn't get exploited.

Sexting gets out of hand. I would never send nude photos to anybody because they will send it to other people and it gets around the whole school, the town whatever. This happened to a girl in my school. I'm sure that it happened to many others but this is one I particularly remember. I felt bad that it got sent everywhere but it's also her fault for taking it in the first place.

I'm wondering if the boys asked for the pics or if the girls just sent them. This could mean that the boys are victims. The girls could have just wanted to get them in trouble by sending the nude photos. However, the boys did'nt delete the photos off of the camera which is where they went wrong.

However, school officials don't have the authority to go through what is on the cell phone. Isn't that illegal search and seizure? It reminds me of the Supreme Court Case with T.L.O.'s purse being searched by school officials without probable cause.

I don't know about punishments for this. But I think that it should be mandatory for these girls to learn that flaunting their bodies puts them at risk for being sexually assaulted. They should attend some workshops about self esteem and not cracking under peer pressure. Show them that there are other ways to get attention that are more positive. Show them that boys who ask for photos of them nude are probably not boyfriend material or true friends.

So if a five year old with a camera took a Poloroid picture of herself nude when she didn't really know better, then we should arrest her too?

It's just asinine.

Yeah, what these teens are doing is pretty stupid, but they shouldn't really be arrested for it. First of all, it is their own body that they are distributing.
Secondly--they're not making profit, so it doesn't even come close to prostitution or selling porn.

I agree they should be punished, but really by the parents. The parents should step in and do their job. They can ground their son/daughter or whatever it is they do these days. It's like when you got in trouble when you were little--you were sent home with a note and you got punished. Same difference, just older children.

I do wonder if the boys asked for the pictures though. They could fall under the stature of the law if they received the photos and knew it was illegal for them to have it--but it's really naked pictures of girls *their* age. They aren't even over age yet...I mean, they legally aren't even supposed to see porn until they are 18...but with kids having sex younger and younger these days, I guess that would be sort of pointless to try and enforce...they are already seeing the naked body at their age (the real thing), so a picture isn't doing that much more damage.

These kids really need to control their hormones and their stupidity.
But they don't really need to be arrested.

Do our law enforcement officers seriously have nothing better to do than this? I girl was abducted from a Metallica concert and these tards are out busting 13 year olds with picture phones?

I say we get a really big stick, paint it blue, and call it the stupid stick. I will personally go around and smack stupid people with it. The people persecuting these kids will get the first wacks.

luring,

I like what you said when you wrote this:
"I'm wondering if the boys asked for the pics or if the girls just sent them. This could mean that the boys are victims."

If the boys didn't want the pictures and the girls were sending them nude photos of themselves, that would be a big problem. I think there's a double standard (at least sometimes) that people think boys always want sex and that this would be ok, but just think if the roles were reversed. If boys were sending nude pictures to girls who didn't want them, people would likely be very upset.

The article doesn't say whether the boys wanted the pictures. It also doesn't say whether the girls felt pressured to take or send them, either.

Karin,

While the teens aren't yet legal adults, I don't think comparing them to five-year-olds works well, either. Teenagers and very young children have completely different ideas when it comes to their bodies and sex. Many five-year-olds don't even know what sex is. There is also a difference in intent when a young child plays with a camera and a teenager uses one to take sexually explicit photos.

Honestly, I'm not sure what would be the proper way to handle a situation like this. The people involved are underage, and the pictures are sexually explicit (making them pornographic, whether they make money off it or not), so I do think it would be considered child pornography (child being defined as under age eighteen). Also, the pictures were brought to school, which makes it more of a problem. I don't know if faculty found it because the students were looking at the pictures during school and a teacher or staff member saw the pictures, or if the phone was confiscated for some other reason and the pictures were found later. Either way, the pictures never should have made it on school grounds. There are some things that you can't have in a school, and pornography is one of those things.

You also mentioned the fact that people aren't even supposed to be able to access porn until they're 18. That's a good point, and I think another thing to think about is what the age of consent is in the state they live in (Pennsylvania). I don't know what it is there, but in Washington, it's 16. The girls were 14 and 15 years old. The boys were 16 and 17.
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I think some action should be taken, but what is appropriate? For having the pictures on school grounds, perhaps a misdemeanor. But for taking the pictures, well, maybe the girls should talk to a counselor. It isn't always the case, but sometimes overtly sexual behavior at a young age can be a sign that something else is going on in their life that they need to address. Not always, but sometimes. I'd also want to know why they sent them. Were they pressured? Did they want to be noticed? Did they want to be loved? Or did they just do it because they thought it'd be fun to send those kind of pictures to their boyfriends?
I think someone should talk to all the students about what could happen with those pictures, especially in a digital age. Information (including photos) can spread so rapidly through technology.

Eyes,
Well, the sexting article is from January, and the Metallica case is from this month. Even if they did happen at the same time, I would hope that police would have the capacity to handle more than one case at any given moment.
I think I would be more worried about why the students were sending these pictures than whether they should be arrested, though.

I agree that what these kids are doing is pretty crazy and stupid but they should not be arrested or charged as adults. There needs to be a different punishment set up for cases like this one since its becomming more and more popular with increased technology.

It's ridiculous how prevalent this is, but it's exactly that facet that would make it so difficult to enforce any restrictions being applied.

To be honest, I see this phenomenon as the new generation's "at the drive in" or "makeout point". If you were comfortable with the person you were with, you'd get a little frisky and possibly get naked. Same issue here. If you're texting someone that you feel comfortable getting naked with, then the same principle applies.

I believe the real issue lies in the fact that these are frozen moments in time that can be propagated among a multitude of people. This has dramatic implications. It's already been shown that these pictures can lead to ruined lives, depression, and suicide, among other things.

I don't think there should be law enforcement concerned with the sending of nude pictures from teens to teens.

What we need are parents that are able to successfully instill civility and sound moral judgment in their children. We also need a society that supports those efforts instead of slyly undermining those parents.

jstanek,

Do you think there should be a punishment for having brought the pictures to school?

AZmath,

I'm curious about how you think our society "slyly undermines" parents. Could you expand on that?

Taking nude pics of yourself is disrespectful to your body. You should always treat yourself w/ respect, because if you don't then who will respect you? Your body is your temple so treat it as one. Beauty may get attention, but personality capture hearts. So sending nude pictures of yourself only tells the other person one thing about yourself. Which is not very "heart-warming."

aowens,

Thank you for sharing your opinion. Going back to the original topic, though, do you think this kind of behavior falls under the category of "child porn"? Do you think the students in the case from the article should be prosecuted?

I was under the impression that child porn is when the child is being taken advantage of and being exploited. I dont think its possible to take advantage of yourself. I could be wrong, I am no expert. I have taken photos like those and have sent them to friends. I dont think any teenager in the USA would take them to compare when breast cancer lumps formed that is just a laughable suggestion. It is a type of porn. But so is a homemade sex tape. It is not prostitution, I never made any money off of any pictures I sent. If the child does make money, then sure let there be legal punishments. However if the child is just being dumb and sending photographs they took of themselves and sending them to various people, that is between them and their parents. However if the person recieving the photograph is over the age of 18 and ASKED for the photo then the government should step in. But then again If the government has no problem sending a 13 year old to death row, stating they knew right from wrong, then a 13 year old should know whether or not they are being exploited right? You cant say that a 13 year old can grasp consequences as well as an adult in a murder trial and not in a pornography sense. That would be having your cake and eating it too.

Specailwun,

I was defining child porn in terms of the definitions of the two words "child" (a person under the age of 18), and "porn" (sexually explicit material intended to cause sexual arousal).

I'm curious about your reasoning behind different punishments.

You wrote that "if the child is just being dumb and sending photographs they took of themselves and sending them to various people, that is between them and their parents. However if the person recieving the photograph is over the age of 18 and ASKED for the photo then the government should step in."

Is this difference, to you, because the minor may being taken advantage of if the other person is an adult? In the first scenario, they are still breaking the law, as well as breaking school rules. Why should only the parents handle it in that case?