Imagine it. Your teen or pre-teen–for whatever reason that moves this age group to do the stupid, wacky things they occasionally do–decides to photograph a naked body part and beam it over to BFF, GF, or BF via the miracle of cell phone technology.
The very same cell phone you gave her for Christmas that made you get all misty when she opened up the package and squealed thank you thank-you-thank-you-mommy-I-love-it. “Where’s my baby?” you thought. . .growing up too fast.
Indeed, but how fast? Depending on where you live, and depending on what the image depicts, your child could be charged with making child porn and be placed on a sex offender registry for many years.
Just a few weeks ago, it happened to two girls in Pennsylvania. Just fourteen and fifteen in 2008 when they took cell phone shots of themselves nude and sent them to other minors, they’ve since been arrested and charged with trafficking in kiddie porn.
I got an update about this issue from Childlaw, a great blog by James Marsh on issues pertaining kids and the law (which I follow because of its coverage of adoption issues) but you can find other stories about this issue here and here.
So what do you think? Should these kids be charged with making and distributing kiddie porn? What if they get more entrepreneurial and make a homemade movie and sell it? It’s not so far-fetched. According to the ArsTechnica article cited above, 20 percent of all teens have sent nude photos of themselves to another person, and not just to friends.
Every parent has to talk to their kids about this issue and what the law says even if the law has yet to catch up with technology. Child pornography laws are about protecting children from adults who victimize them. They cannot be applied to minors who unwittingly produce pornography by being minors. Where is the intent to exploit? This is a huge mistake these kids are making but it’s an even bigger one to label them sex offenders. Yet in a recent Florida case a judge argued that these penalties are necessary to protect minors from their own lack of judgment. If you sort that logic out, let me know.
Honestly, I’m not saying this is all fine and dandy and I want to discover any child I know doing this stuff. But branding for life seems cruel and disproportionate.
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Interesting, and thanks for the informative commentary. My kids are too young for cell phones…right now. One is 9 and the other 4, but the 9 year old is already asking for one.
Do they sell old fashioned cell phones, (there’s something inherently wrong with using the words ‘old fashioned AND cell phone…together) you know, just the phone and that’s it, no camera/calculator,gameboy etc?
You know, it’s an idea. . .but the camera/screen part seems to be the main feature for the kids. Sorry to disappoint!
My daughter’s 11 and I will be talking to her about this, as she’ll be moving on to junior high next year. She’s had a cell phone since aged 10 because she walks home from school on her own in a big city.
Thanks for dropping by.
wow, that’s scary, i had no idea they could be charged
i’m a secondary school teacher and i see the kind of pictures my female students take of themselves on those phones, oh boy, i don’t want my girl to be a teen…
Don’t know much about our Canadian sitch but it can’t be that different.
Thanks osolomama…oh well, I’ll cross that bridge when it comes.
That bit the judge said about protecting kids from their own bad judgement is ludicrous (sp?)!!! If I’d been made to suffer for all the bad judgements I made as an adolescent…I’d be just coming up for parole now, and I’m 42.
[...] do what I advised last time I blogged about this. Talk to your kids. Tell them it’s insane, but tell them not to do it anyway. And [...]
I never understood why kids can be actually charged for making kiddie porn. I mean the law against kiddie porn is existing to protect kids from getting abused from adults. IMO it just should be as it is with the German law that kids below 14 can’t have sex. It’s forbidden but because no ones the offender no one gets punished legally. The only punishment that should happen should come from their parents as it is with all the other “naughty” stuff young people do at that age.