Sexting and the City
"GLEN ROCK – Police are warning those in possession of nude cell phone photos — self-portraits of a teenage middle school student —to hit the delete button or face prosecution.” -Northjersey.com
Today’s story about teenage “sexting” happens to be taking place in Glen Rock, New Jersey. But it could just as easily be in the numerous other states—including New York and Connecticut—where authorities have already filed criminal charges—child pornography charges—against middle and high school students who sent or received nude pictures with their cell phones. Police in Glen Rock tonight are telling students and parents that anyone still in possession of the 14-year-old girl’s photos as of tomorrow could also be subject to felony prosecution.
They do not explain exactly how they’re going to enforce that, perhaps because it is unenforceable. Mandating that all digital copies of that poor girl’s mistake in judgment be deleted guarantees one thing: copies of those photos will live on in cyberspace. Remember when you were a teenager and an authority figure told you to do something, or else? Exactly.
But the real question communities everywhere are going to have to deal with in the larger picture, so to speak, is whether this is a law enforcement matter. Here’s a link to an excellent article on the issue, from slate.com’s Dahlia Lithwick. She argues against harsh criminal punishments against kids doing this (and there a LOT of kids doing this):
“The argument that we must prosecute kids as the producers and purveyors of kiddie porn because they are too dumb to understand that their seemingly innocent acts can hurt them goes beyond paternalism. Child pornography laws intended to protect children should not be used to prosecute and then label children as sex offenders.”
I’ll agree. Even with the best of intentions, I don’t think communities can prosecute their way out of this one. You can talk about child pornography laws until you’re blue in the face, but there are underlying gender and sex issues central to the lives of teenagers that, thrown together with technology, take it out of the realm of simple law and order.
But it’s also one more example of how we expect our children to live their impressionable lives somehow divorced from the larger culture going on all around them. It’s adults who create the sex-drenched environment these young people grow up in, from what they find on the internet and prime time television to what they see on billboards towering over Times Square when they go see “The Lion King” on Broadway. By “sexting” these pictures, they’re just mirroring what they see going on all around them, in their immature, hormonally-charged, and naive ways. Threatening to arrest them for that is both hypocritical, and, I’ll predict, ineffective.
Comments: 18
HEY JIM I WATCH YOU EVERYNITE AND MY OPINION ON THE SEXTING IS TOUCHING BECAUSE IM A MOM OF A 13 YEAR OLD GURL AND I HAVE TO BECARFUL OF WAT SHE DOES ON HER PHONE WHICH IS A SIDEKICK AND REALLY IT DONT MATTER HOW MUCH YOU TALK TO YOUR KIDS ONCE THEY WALKOUT THE DOOR THEY COULD STILL DO IT THANKS FOR LISTENING TO ME
HEY JIM I WATCH YOU EVERYNITE AND MY OPINION ON THE SEXTING IS TOUCHING BECAUSE IM A MOM OF A 13 YEAR OLD GURL AND I HAVE TO BECARFUL OF WAT SHE DOES ON HER PHONE WHICH IS A SIDEKICK AND REALLY IT DONT MATTER HOW MUCH YOU TALK TO YOUR KIDS ONCE THEY WALKOUT THE DOOR THEY COULD STILL DO IT THANKS FOR LISTENING TO ME
Hey Jim Im 19 years old and personally speaking sometime in life you have to realize that teenagers will be teenagers. I Live in the Virgin Islands and even down here we have that issue with teenagers abusing their cellphone privilages. When you do bad you must suffer some sort of consequence for it. That young lady never meant for others to get involved into something so assumed would have been intimate with her boyfriend. Hopefully this is a lesson to her and her friends, because ts surely a wake up call for me.
While it is disgraceful that many young girls are now finding it ok to "sext", the growning trend is an obvious sign of low self-esteem issues or even deeper psychological and emotional issues that these CHILDREN face. Therefore charging them as adults will not only deprive them of the right psychological help they need but will also hinder their possibility of having a "normal” transition from adolescence to adulthood. Yes they should be punished but not as adults they do not have the mental capacity of an adult to completely understand the consequences of their actions.
Hi Jim,
My wife and I just saw the bite on "Sexting in the City". The movie that you mentioned and showed clips of in the bite was the new internet bulling movie that was produced and directed by our son Dan Fabrizio, he is the Senior Producer for Chase Wilson, Film/Video Production Comapany located in Monvale, NJ. Dan and the Chase Wilson company produced the film "Sticks & Stones" as a project requested by Mr. Molineri, Bergen County, NJ Proceutor and his Internet Crimes unit to use as an informative educational tool for teachers, law enforcement personal and most importantly "parents" to alert them regrading the issues and consequences that can arise from internet bulling.
It would be great if you or your staff can contact Dan and maybe do something on your news program recognizing their film "Sticks & Stones".
Thank you for your time to read this blog.
Sincerely,
Dom Fabrizio
It of course doesn't make it right, but... If the same technology existed 15, 20, or 30 years ago... I think we'd have the same exact problem.
We'd all probably be in the same boat if this technology exisited when we were teens. The polaroid camera was too hard to get your hands on, and the evidence was too easily discovered. Teens don't have that problem anymore and too many are taking advantage of that. However, their judgement (or lack of judgement) is really no different than any other generation... and many parents probably have no idea that their kids would/or could do this.
Maybe one step schools could take is to enfoce the ban (that they should have)on cell phones on school grounds. It would piss off kids, and even parents... but they were banned at my high school... If mom or dad had an emergency they called the office. If you had a phone, it was supposed to be kept in your car.
I have to say something, considering I live in Glen Rock and am a student at the high school. Personally, even though I feel bad for the girl, she has to learn to accept some responsibility. She turned HERSELF into the school authorities. It's her fault for trusting the group of kids she sent it to, and thinking that she's invincible, because she's obviously NOT. It sucks she had to learn the hard way, but I know that no one else will make this mistake here anytime soon.
I have to say something, considering I live in Glen Rock and am a student at the high school. Personally, even though I feel bad for the girl, she has to learn to accept some responsibility. She turned HERSELF into the school authorities. It's her fault for trusting the group of kids she sent it to, and thinking that she's invincible, because she's obviously NOT. It sucks she had to learn the hard way, but I know that no one else will make this mistake here anytime soon.
While Child Porn laws may be tough to enforce, police certainly can't look the other way with this type of behavior.
Yes there are societal issues with this. But ignoring it and lecturing kids won't do any more than prosecution. It's the same as with drug bause. For some kids, merely the threat of legal ramifications- the embarrassment of being caught, will be enough to stop them from doing it. For others a stern talking to might work. For others therapy. For others, nothing will work.
But we need to at least make the attempt. To simply dismiss the legal angle is to bury your head in the sand. And maybe when adults stop sending mixed signals- on the one hand sex sells- but you shouldn't actually do it- kids might have a better chance.
I am 19, and if I were arrested for half the things I did with my friends at 13,14 or even 17 in hopes that it would be kept in private I would still be in jail to this day, it is sad to say but teenagers will be teenagers and they will do incredibly dumb things.
But to charge these children as sex offenders forcing them to live in fear of how people will treat them because of their CRIMINAIL record, having to limit where they can live, go and even limiting their job opportunities is ridicules. After all they are sending pictures of themselves!!!, if being embarrassed and looking like a fool on national television isn’t enough punishment then they need to book an appointment with a psychiatrist.
Like I said earlier kinds do not have the mental capacity to truly understand what they are doing (the last girl to be reported was 8!!!!), instead of ruining the futures of these CHILDREN we need to be looking for and punishing real sex-offenders that are really out there molesting and hurting people, not dumb teenage girls that sent pictures of their own bodies to "friends".
Fortunately, my kids are grown, but what I see here is a great misuse of the cell phone. If you ask me, there should be restrictions on phone use, or blocks like they have on TV. The cell phone should only be used for emergency situations, not for the social venue, it has become. It seems like today, nothing is safe or sacred, and it's a darn shame. I'm glad I don't have young kids today, THAT'S FOR SURE.
I am not the first Guy who posted.
I think with today's technology it is increasingly hard to monitor children. I guess all we can do is talk to our children about right behavior and wrong and hope and pray they get the message.
The kids today, have too much peer pressure to do the right thing. It also depends on the friends that they hang around with. I always made sure I knew who my kids friends were. It is getting to be a more complicated world. It is also not a safe world. Young girls especially are vunerable, so you have to watch them more carefully. Not that boys are innocent, because they are not always, you just have to watch your kids 24/7. Sometimes the parents are not good examples and the kids just copy them. It also depends on the kids. Some are more troublesome than others. The ones who look for trouble, usually find it. Now I have to worry about my grandkids. They are good kids, but who knows what they might be exposed to in school or on the playground, or anywhere for that matter.
It's a good thing to get your kids involved with projects. Sports, music, etc. are great outlets for all their energy. I don't think parents should put too much effort into this, if the kids are not interested, however, kids should find an interesting thing to be a part of.
I think if kids watch the news, they should be scared enough, as to what's happening in the world. It should be a lesson well learned, when they see that all is not peachy keen.
I had two very interesting teachers. Once was an artist and one was an author. I also had a teacher that got me intested in stamp collecting. There are so many good things out there. The good should outweigh the bad.
"Do you know where your children are", makes alot of sense. Pretty soon the kids will have to wear ankle bracelets, to monitor there whereabouts. Of course, this would be considered abuse by some, but it might not be a bad idea.