Sexting: Does the punishment fit the crime?

Have you ever done something so embarrassing that you cringe at the mere memory of it?  I have, and I’m sure that everyone has had a slip-up in judgment at least once in their life.  Two weeks ago, two middle school students in Indiana were found exchanging nude pictures of themselves via cell phone.  They were charged with possession of child pornography and exploitation and then sent to a juvenile probation department.  If convicted, these kids could be required to register as sex offenders; this would alter their lives forever.  This really bothers me a lot.

Is this the right thing to do?   Is charging 12 and 13-year-olds with sexual offenses the solution to the laws that are supposed to protect them? Teenagers have been and always will be making stupid mistakes.  But now, the consequences are life changing.  Instead of being lectured and grounded, kids could be convicted as criminals.  I don’t believe this is fair.  Why should one blunder, a moment of frivolous bad judgment where no one was hurt or killed, affect the child’s whole life?

According to the Chicago Tribune report on the incident, four percent of cell phone-owning 12 to 17 years old admit to having sent nude or nearly nude images of themselves via text, and 15 percent say they’ve received such images.  If all of these kids were convicted for child pornography and exploitation, there would be hundreds of thousands of “sex offenders”.

True, many teenagers don’t realize the severity and consequences of their actions.  But isn’t that part of growing up?   Instead of prosecuting teenagers, authorities should focus on educating us.  Educate us first and give us the opportunity to make better decisions for ourselves.   If we were sufficiently warned about the consequences for doing such things, the number of young people sexting should decline.

These laws are here to protect teenagers like myself and should not punish us for being naive.

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