Turning Adolescent Stupidity into Felonies 1

You tax dollars at work:

Authorities have charged five teenagers in a sexting case at Franklin County High School.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Cliff Hapgood says the charges include felony counts of using cell phones to possess and transmit pornography involving minors.

Hapgood says a female student took pictures of herself with a male student’s cell phone in a bathroom at the high school. The male student then sent pictures to other students.

More stupid at the link.

One hopes the parents have heard of this case.

Note there is no indication of force or exploitation. The picture was taken voluntarily by the person in it.

If a 16-year-old is interested in looking at another 16-year-old, that’s normal–not desirable by any means, but normal.

Taking and sharing a picture is stupid. Teenagers do stupid things. For that matter, so do grown-ups (especially grown-ups who are accustomed to prating about “family values” in the media, but that’s another story.) The stupid deserves some corrective action, but a charges that could result in felony convictions and registration as sex offenders seems somewhat disproportionate.

The parents’ cancelling the cellphone accounts and lifting the phones would seem more appropriate.

I also suspect that the picture could in no way be considered pornographic except for the age of the person in it, except by those who think any nudity is inherently pornographic. Oddly enough, the Attorney-General biz seems to attract folks like that.