http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/indiana-middle-school-sexting-82949612.html

First, I'm not arguing Child Pornography at all. That is self explanatory that people like that should have horrible things done to them...


But after reading this article I think the law is going a bit too far. These kids, consentually sent naked pictures of THEMSELVES to EACH OTHER. What exactly is different in this scenario from two kids playing Doctor? Pretty much every kid can attest to playing that game, which certainly sometimes involves a lot more than taking photos.

I don't think these two should be charged at all, it's their business. As long as it was consentual between both parties, everyone else should butt out. Yes, they are young, but I can remember being that age and being just as curious about girls, and liking them just as much. It's not as if he forced her to take the picture, and then showed it to everyone in school and posted it on the internet. What were kids this young doing with cell phones anyways?

Discuss.

Well the difference is no one is making a physical record of kids touching each other.

They can do anything they want to each other. They just can't take pictures of it.

How the **** do you even charge children with child porn?

"Sexting", eh. Wow, and I thought people would be sane enough to actually not make a lame pun like that have a "proper" meaning.

Stupid slang.

(If I'm complaining about a lame pun it's pretty damn serious! :argh:)

Kids playing 'doctor'? Sounds like you had a more interesting child-hood then I.

humanity is gay, nothing makes sense, children with child porn, FMS..**** my species

Children need to be allowed to make mistakes.

Beyond that; how the hell? This is like when they charge 16 year olds with statutory rape - of each other. The pictures themselves fall under child pornography laws, yes. But how can you charge something for possessing pictures of themself? Are they charging each kid with having pictures of the other?

Exactly JM and Tibby. Although, I would also argue from my point of view that although they are young and probably don't fully understand what they are doing I don't know how you can charge someone that is underage with possessing child porn. JM is right that the pictures themselves fall under the category of child porn, but they are in the possession of a child, a friend, and they were consentually sent between them.



You never played it? Wow. Even our parents joke about how they used to play it.

Never played it, never heard of anyone young playing it

I hope they give them the death penalty... that'll show kids... /sarcasm

Stupid people running the system.

Are you kidding me? Everyone I know did as a kid..

Even though I don't really see it as a child porn offense by sharing with eachother, they are also sharing with countless other adults. SMS/MMS are not private and may be read by telecom employees, law enforcement, etc. It's not acceptable to send this kind of information over any network and kids need to learn this.

Children need to be allowed to make mistakes.

Because children are expected to learn the protocol of data transfer over multiple networks? They won't understand that, and saying "Don't do that!" to a kid just makes it worse.

But the difference is 12 and 13 year olds are probably kept from hearing about child porn because it's way not acceptable for them to be hearing about that. So these kids being charged won't help other 12 and 13 year olds not commit the same crime. In three years, the next set of 12/13 year olds would have been 9 and 10 when this happened!

Yes, the sooner children learn how to conduct criminal activities without detection the better



This, this, a million times this

oops, double postedish

No one I know played it, and I've only even heard of it offhand, and certainly not anywhere near as involved as you seem to imply.

Sounds like you had a messed up childhood

That must make for an awkward family dinner table conversation.

I'm pretty sure my dad jerked it too, doesn't mean I talk about it over dinner.
Or at all.

Who says they have to understand that? If the kids have access to the internet and if they have their OWN CELLPHONE, then they should sure as **** know that it's not to be used for sending naked pictures of themselves to anyone else, regardless of who in the intended recipient is. They should know that what they do online or on their phone can be seen by others. That should be a requirement for the privileges of the use of these devices, and should be enforced by parents.



I don't know what this has to do with what I said.

I don't know what you mean by 'involved,' but little kids probably don't do whatever you're thinking. It's just natural curiosity. It's what kids do.

I knew a guy in high school that claimed to have lost his virginity to his cousin when he was four years old. :barf:

Is that even possible?
I mean, sure you can put the penis in there, but would the testicles be developed enough for anything to really happen?
I'm guessing no, also :barf:.

That's a very good question tibby. Indeed, would a 4 year old boy's testicles be developed enough "for anything to really happen" as he attempts intercourse with his cousin?

You don't know how your suggestion for them to learn how to do one thing that's illegal (but shouldn't be) without detection has anything to do with doing illegal things without detection?

The core of the problem : In order to tell children why they shouldn't do this, we have to destroy their innocence.

I'm sure they've already thrown most of the black people into prison, so they gotta do something to keep their felony conviction rates up.

I lol'ed.

Someday Our laws will be so strict that sex will be against the law period, and reproduction can only be performed by artificial insemination, we'll have camera's everywhere and little electronic detectors surgically implanted in our bodys so that we can be monitored 24/7. Reminds me of a book by George Orwell.

Uh-huh, Darth Dan, and please remind me again which party in American politics is gung-ho about restricting people's reproductive choices?

I was just being sarcastic

Besides maybe you should ask yourself that question.

oh no he did-ent!!

When it comes to the art of discourse, Darth Dan has premature ejaculation.

ooooh, ZING!

Heh, and that's why society has become more and more okay with pre-marital sex (just mentioning it because at one time it was shunned like hell), group-sex, one-night stands, fetishes and other things that were once "against the law" or considered "inappropriate"? We've evolved. I doubt we'll cut it out that easily, for the simple fact that everybody loves sex.

It's probably the opposite. I'm thinking along the lines of "Brave New World".

I'm hoping that doesn't happen though, at least not anytime soon.I'm fairly oldschool with this stuff. Even hearing about someone who's had sex with many people bothers me (that includes you, Massassi :P). It's a huge turn off.

I'm a 1-person type of guy... but that doesn't mean if **** hits the fan in a longstanding relationship that you shouldn't try again, things happen.

Anyway, they may have consensually swapped photos, but that doesn't necessarily make it an excuse. Children don't really have any idea what they want. What if they were to change their mind in a few years (which will likely occur, says this guy), they can charge the other for having sent images if they have record of it.

Jail time is excessive, but a punishment should still be issued. Otherwise they may go around doing that same sort of thing for years to come. Holy hell, what if they develop a liking for children? (I'm exaggerating :P).

You make a mistake, you should be punished. But I agree with everyone, this is far too much. What next, charging parents for having pictures or home videos of their 4 year olds naked, or their newborn being changed? Ridiculous. If so, everybody hide your parents (unless you honestly don't care about them)!

Confiscating the cell-phones and not letting them have another for a while would be a good punishment to me (if they value the phone), it's technically harmless

Photo labs have called the cops on parents because of this.
http://www.abc15.com/content/news/westvalley/peoria/story/Valley-couple-sues-Wal-Mart-after-kids-are-taken/pbLlMgUyukGjWhUsTuCyHg.cspx

But yes, Brave New World is much much much closer to what the world is becoming than 1984. 99% of the time when someone cites 1984 they've never actually read the damn thing.

Heh, I kinda figured it's already happened.

That is disgusting, way to ruin a family wal-mart.