Obsene Text Message

[>Charlotte<]

he is just a red blooded American boy (cue the music)

John Phillip Sousa-ish, or are you going for more of a Springsteen vibe?

 

[Silverplum]

I seriously did not know it was a sex crime

My son knows it was wrong but he did not know that it was a crime either until now.

I guess we have been living under a rock or something.

We know it's wrong but not every thing you do in life wrong is a crime. It seems there is no learning from your parents anymore it's all about putting them in the systems hands, strike one your out.


but he is really just an teen age boy that caught up in the stupid teenage bull crap.

We are not hillbilies or uneducated people either but apparently we live under a rock as someone said. All this did was make me feel like an awful parent for not saying to my son, now honey if you ever get a picture of a naked girl don't forward it ok"

Well, of course there's no learning from your parents anymore, when your parents live under a rock and don't teach you more than how to play pocket pool.

Oh, and btw, it was Ohiogal who posted that interesting article. She, the one you also wrote "knew nothing." She, an Ohio attorney.

 

[quincy]

This is not meant to refute any of what has been said by the forum members here or to negate the seriousness of the very real crime that partlysunny's son has committed, however I think it is also important to point out to partlysunny that prosecutors in the states that have child pornography creation, possession and distribution laws did not expect when these laws were drafted that 20% of all children/teens (by recent survey estimates) would be taking and distributing nude photos of themselves.

The states are ill-equiped to handle these young offenders who, as a rule, have no idea that what they are doing is illegal (although ignorance of the law is, admittedly, no excuse for violating it). Unfortunately, the laws are clear that what these children are doing is illegal and there are penalties spelled out for violator's of child pornography laws that the prosecutors cannot merely ignore.

Putting these young offenders in jail and having them register on Sex Offender lists for 25 years or life is something that very few prosecutors in most of these cases want. How to handle the proliferation of these cell-phone photo cases is still a question mark in most states.

Partlysunny, in the cases involving cell-phone photos taken by children and distributed to other children, the majority have resulted in actions taken by the state that have allowed for the children to escape Sex Offender Registry listing, jail time, or permanent police and court records that will haunt them forever. The children are punished in other ways.

Kids are often suspended or expelled from their schools, they are put on probation which has included curfews, parental supervision of and restrictions on all computer and cell-phone use, and there have been fines, community service hours required, etc. Parents have also been punished.

In Michigan, the prosecutors in most of the cases that have occurred (and there have been several), have decided not to prosecute the teens. In one of the first cases in the U.S. to make it into the court system, a case from Ohio, the girl was put on probation with court-ordered restrictions such as those mentioned above.

Your son committed a crime, as did the girl who took photos of herself and distributed them to others. Child pornography laws are clear that actions such as these violate the law. And your son will need good legal representation - and counseling would help.

I believe that too many parents ARE clueless about how their children are using these cell-phones and what their children are publishing on their MySpace and Facebook pages and on YouTube. Parents need to supervise their children better and become informed about the dangers that exist for their children. And a first good step to take is to take away the cell phones with cameras. There is no need for a child to have one (even if "every other kid" in the world does).