Let’s hear it for an unusually sensible police response to a case of high school sexting.
The Nashua, New Hampshire, police received word in May that 10 or 20 students at Bishop Guertin High School had been snapping and swapping sexts.
But then, rather than arresting these kids for making child porn, or threatening to register them as sex offenders, the police did something outrageously reasonable.
They opted not to charge any of them.
As Nashua’s Lieutenant Robert Page told WMUR TV:
“To begin with, the laws of child pornography were developed to target and prosecute child predators, not students and juveniles who make bad decisions,” Page said.
Police said they have spoken to all the students who were involved and their parents. They also wiped the photos off the phones.
The police went on to tell the students that what they put on social media never completely disappears, so from now on, lay off the inappropriate photos. That’s precisely the response I think most of us would want from the cops if our own kids ever sent or received a sext. (Which, if they’re under 23, they probably did, by the way.)
Now compare the perspective and compassion of those Nashua, NH, police to the actions in any number of other teen sexting cases. For instance:
The 2014 Virginia case where cops sought and obtained a warrant to give a teen boy an erection so they could compare it to a sext they had gotten their hands on (as it were).
I cannot begin to express how calming and reassuring this story was.
The police in the article handled this incident EXACTLY how all these cases should: A discussion with the kids, their families, and erasing the contraband for the protection of the kids.
And that’s it. No waste of taxpayer money in criminal courts. No traumatic trial. And defintiely no lifelong public shaming to compromise any sort of livelihood these kids would want to work for when they grow up.
Finally…intelligent reasoning. Hopefully, it will last and spread throughout the country.
Police are huge influence on kids. Now if only minors and adults are taught not to lie about their age online causing long term harm to people.
The article gives credit to the police… but isn’t it prosecutors who decide whether or not charges are filed?? 🤔
😈 I suppose I would be branded one of the Devil’s own minions if I were to disagree and suggest that all of those youths should have been prosecuted. If the parents of tens/hundreds/thousands of Zack Andersons were to kick up a huge fuss and fight against the SORs, change may start to happen. What if that entire community were up in arms and fought against the Registries?? 😈