News5 is looking into proposed legislation that could change how teens are punished for sexting. Felony child pornography charges are not off the table for students implicated in the Canon City scandal.
We spoke with the President of the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council who says a new law is needed to properly prosecute juveniles caught sexting. Full Article
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CO: Canon City High School Sexting Scandal – Will Students Involved Be Registered Sex Offenders?
Okay.
Though still not good enough.
Prosecuting teens for sexting is only going to create a bigger problem by further sending mixed messages regarding sexual exploration and expression. Society can’t allow continuous advertisement of sexy, hot, and attractive throughout daily life while simultaneously limiting the types of interactions among those most likely to pick up on the day to day barrage of stimuli and not expect the limits to be challenged. Either let teenagers explore as they are ready to do so and give them the ability to consent or watch in horror as “the children” get even more screwed up by flawed policies passed under the insane guise of protecting them.
Oh and here’s a question nobody is asking:
If a teen receives a nude image from a teen in another country and in that country it is legal to send and receive nudes at (whatever age the teen living there is), but such content would be illegal here, should the teen here be prosecuted for receiving or possibly possessing child pornography? Should anyone be prosecuted in the United States for possessing such material? What if the content is so mild in its country of origin that it is not even pornography there? Would it be harmful to consider it porn here?
While these are hypothetical questions in this instance; anyone who believes it could not happen in real life is in for a major shock.
While I wouldn’t wish I what I have gone through on anyone…
Based on comments posted on articles of CP possessors…it’s obvious that 99.9999999 of the population believes that every person arrested for possession is a monster that deserves to rot in prison for the rest of their lives. No thought is given to how and/or why that person ended up with CP on their computer. Only 3 files out of thousands of legal porn files. Mislabled file, accidental, bulk downloading from P2P like an idiot…doesn’t matter. Abused as a child, exposed to pornography at a very young age, whatever…doesn’t matter. Lock them up and throw away the key says the torch and pitchfork crew. That is until their sweet little teenage Johnny or Suzie is arrested for it. The same person that would have volunteered to tie the knot in my noose (while my wife and two children watched) is now pleading for leniency and for the laws to be rewritten. They didn’t know any better…they are just kids. Blah blah blah. Yeah I get it…but is it fair?
OK so they show them leniency…giving all of them slaps on the wrists. No registration, no Megan’s Law, they learn a valuable lesson…and they live happily ever after. They were silly minors after all.
Fast forward two years. Those pics and videos of these minors have been spreading around on the internet…most likely on P2P networks. It’s determined that over 500 people downloaded some of these files. The first three identified as an 18 year old, a 17 year old, and a 40 year old. Does the 17 year get off with a slap the wrist like the sexters did that created, distributed, and possessed them? Would it be fair to punish him more since he didn’t obtain them during the original sexting fun? Or do the courts pound him like they do most? How about the 18 year old? How about the 40 year old? Should a seventeen year old caught with a naked pic of his sixteen year old girlfriend get off with a slap on the wrist? Would that be reasonable? But what if the BF happens to be 18? Does he get the book thrown at him? What if a 30 year old gets his hands on that same pic? How can the punishment be “fair”? Can it be fair if the law is black and white? What if it isn’t black and white?
From what I know…the law has very little gray area when it comes to CP. CP is CP is CP in the laws eyes. Possession of a naked fifteen year old selfie is treated the same as a pic where a seven year old is being abused. Somebody with 3 files is treated the same as somebody with 3,000. It’s pretty much a slam dunk for any prosecutor and the media just eat it up.
A part of me wants them to keep arresting high school & middle school kids for producing, distributing, and possessing CP. The more the better. Throw the book at them. I feel like that’s the only way things will somehow get better. Welcome to Price Club boys and girls!
Parents…maybe you SHOULDN’T buy your kids that shiny new smart phone for christmas they have been begging for.
As sad as it would be to have these kids registered as sex offenders it would benefit us as it would show this stupidity and hopeful be turned into an uproar for change. These are middle class kids whose parents would do anything to save their kids and when they see that their kids future is ruined they have the recourses to hire lawyers and give money to our cause . The same goes for college student getting in trouble and having their lives ruined by the registry in fact wealthy Ivy league victims are the best addition to our Hell with even more resources that can be used in our struggle . The public needs to see that it is not just the bottom feeders that are affected by this witch hunt . Let everyone enjoy Price Club , the more of us the more unwieldy we are to them and the more power we are going to have for justice .