Sexting Litigation, New Phenomenon Courtesy of the Internet Superhighway
Posted: Tuesday, February 08, 2011
by David Levitt
In an ever growing land of burgeoning litigation, I suppose it only fitting that our newest pet peeve is one that can kill a young man's/woman's spirit early in life and give us the ability to control their every action for the rest of their lives. This new phenomenon courtesy of the internet superhighway is called "sexting." A form of texting whereby most of you are now aware, you can send photos.
In our initial attempts to ban this sort of photo sharing the laws that have been followed for the sharing of under age pornography have been a bit over reaching, such as a case in Iowa last year for example where an 18 year old wound up on the sex offender registry list for sending a photo of his penis to his 14 year old girlfriend who had requested it.
In another case in Florida where an 18 year old male got into an argument with his girlfriend, wound up on the sex offenders registry list until he turns 43 for distributing nude photos of her to dozens of people, including her parents. As offensive and repulsive as this case may appear, the sex offenders registry may not be the best place for this case to be adjudicated given the age of the offender.
Current Texas law provides a punishment of a third-degree felony, with 2 to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, and lifelong registration as sexual offenders for minors charged with sexting, although Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he is not familiar with any minors being charged for this violation, the threat remains.
In a state where 22% of teen girls have indicated that they have participated in the electronic transmission of nude or semi-nude images of themselves, in a report by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, both Abbott, and State Senator Kirk Watson have teamed up to introduce legislation that would classify sexting as a Class C misdemeanor for violators of sexting under the age of 18.
"This bill ensures prosecutors, and frankly, parents, will have a new appropriate tool to address this issue. It helps Texas laws keep up with technology, and our teenagers," said Watson. Watson's bill is similar to recent legislation by four other states including Vermont, Illinois, Utah, and Ohio. This in my estimation is a much more proper manner to deal with our youth.
Senate Bill 407 would authorize the sentencing of minors, and one of their parents (that would be me, dad), to participate in an education program about the consequences of sexting. The new law would also allow teens to apply to the court to have the offense expunged from their record. Not easy keeping up with the internet superhighway, but at least these gentlemen are trying. Thank you, for our youth.
(Source:) Joe Holley, Austin Bureau, as reported in the Houston Chronicle Tuesday, February 8, 2011
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Top-level comments on this article: (10 total)This is a very serious issue. What irritates me more is the misuse of mobile cam in public. People were taking photos of my gf just because they thought they had the right because they owned a cam. It is very irritating.Frightening. They probably do have a right, at least in America they probably have the right, being as it is in public and in full view of anybody anyway, but the right sure doesn't make it polite. People should practice common courtesy but not everybody does. Are you jealous DM, maybe that is an insecurity you/we need to look at as well. Thanks for reading, and the comment sir.Nah, I wasn't jealous. But how would you feel guys taking picture of your wife holding out their cell phones. In fact, there was a guy who was taking a picture of a filipina woman in a restaurant. She was a stranger to him. She got so irritated she immediately smiled at him and said, "Oh you got a new cell phone? Can I have a look at it. She snatched the phone immediately from him and fiddled around and did something and gave it back." It's not jealousy, it's all about manners. :-) It is more of a perversion especially when Indian men take pictures of western women in public. Trust me, I know what they think when they see white women.Like I said frightening. It is a question of manners and perhaps even respect, which sooner or later may get somebody killed over such a personal intrusion. That's how a lot of people feel when unwanted news cameras/paparazzi and the like invade their privacy, but so far to my knowledge there are no laws prohibiting these actions. It is still relatively new so perhaps in time there will be, unfortunately probably after someone is killed over it.
This sounds like a really good way to deal with teen offenders. The whole issue is a nightmare. 22% of Texan teens engage in sexting? Gasp. I wonder how many girls engage in it because they don't know they're allowed to say no, and because of peer pressure? More gasp. Great article, David, thanks.Ya, hard to know the answers to those questions, but I believe a lot of them do it because they are a lot more independent than we used to be, it's popular, and they get a lot of attention from it. Don't know though, never had one sext me before.:-) I do hate to see a child's life ruined irreversibly for a childhood mistake though, heck most of us would probably spend most of our lives in prison were the penalties as harsh for the stupid little mistakes we made as kids. Thanks for reading, and the comment Jenn.
At 62 years old, I'm too old to be involved with sex on the Internet. But I can see a problem within our youth.Ya, I see a problem with it within our children as well David. I'm just glad the judicial system is starting to recognize the fact that maybe childhood indiscretions should be dealt with a little differently than if you or I made the same crude decisions. Thanks for the comment sir.
Yes the punishment for the 18 year old boy seemed harsh being placed on the sex offenders registry. I think Bill 407 is a good idea since it educates both the child and the parents. It's difficult to keep up with all the changes in technology, and even more difficult for legislation to keep up with it. Interesting article David.Thank you Brianna. My fear is that we are not giving kid's a chance to be kid's and learn from their mistakes. I remember stupid things I did as a kid that could have gotten me jail time that I got in trouble for but instead of going to prison and learning how to be an even better criminal, I learned from and have never even considered doing anything that stupid again. It's still a relatively new phenomena and sometimes it takes a little time for our reactions to catch up with the severity of the crime, especially with our youth, some of whom just haven't learned better yet. Thank you so much for reading, and the comment.
Great article, David! This is a typical overreaction by states and the feds in response to so-called child porn/exploitation. They should concentrate on the real child molesters/pornographers (Lord knows there are plenty of them to go after). But it seems silly to me to make sexting a "crime." Those who pass such legislation should be the ones who have to go to jail - for gross stupidity!
Thank you Terry, I agree with your sentiment. I hope that because this is relatively new that a lot of the laws that already applied for older offenders that should know better have been applied to kid's, that let's face it just haven't been around that block yet. It looks as though given time to examine the mistakes of the premature over exuberant legislation that has been applied to younger offenders that the laws may now be changing to reflect the mistakes. Thanks for reading, and the comment sir.
David, I loved this article, it was great. The subject, however, disturbs me very much. I've read and heard all about 'sexting' and all I can ask is: Why should we even be having to fix the problem? Why do we have the problem in the first place? It just seems to be one more example of the moral degeneration occuring in the world. I guess I sound like a prude but you know what? I don't care! Again, thanks for writing this article and for sharing it with us. It certainly was thought provoking for me.
Thank you very much Linda. Lot of things in this world we wish we didn't or shouldn't have to deal with, but we do. As far as moral degeneration, I'm not sure I can agree necessarily with that. A lot of things especially in matters of a sexual nature I think can be attributed as much to recognition as degeneration, many have been shielded from these occurrences more than others. For instance were you or many aware of the pedophilia occurring in the Catholic Church before it's fairly recent exposure and the extent that the church would go to to cover these incidences up? I think a lot of things are coming to light now that many folks even dared consider much less had been exposed to. I think personally I would prefer to know the truth and deal with these issues, as opposed to pretending that they didn't happen and allow them to resume under the cloud of secrecy. Thank you for reading, and your comment Linda.Perhaps you're right David. Just because we haven't heard about some issue or other doesn't mean it's not happening. The subject still disturbs me. I'm always your fan, Linda
This is a good article David...and your responses to the comments, take it even further into the realm of common sense, open-minded intelligence and fairness.....You're a great and level thinker of true integrity- Thanks- Always- EllaThank you so much Ms. Ella. It's because of wonderful people like you that I do my best to try and convey the fact that we are so much more alike one another than different from each other, and that we should treat others the way we would want to be treated. Hmm..seems like a read that somewhere sometime.:-)
Hi David, great article. I hope there will be an end to this as well, because these girls don't seem to realize that by distributing these photos to one phone, they distribute them to wherever the receiver of the photos chooses to send them as well and basically produce child porn of themselves. Once the photos are all over the internet and downloaded on computers, there's no way to get them all back.
Thanks for the informative article,
SydneyWonderful points Sydney! Thank you so much for reading, and the comment.
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