Comments on: Teen "Sexting" Worries Parents, Schools

Prosecutors Have Filed Charges Against Kids Who Send Out Photos Of Their Naughty Bits

[talkingham]

Yes, let''s spend millions of dollars to prosecute victimless, meaningless crimes. Prosecutors love this stuff because they get so much press and lord help us if they ever catch any murderers, rapists, or any real criminals.

The parents of these cell-phone toting delinquents are in debt up to their eyeballs but despite that they spend money on "cell-phones". I wouldn''t be caught, dead or alive, with one of those MINDLESS, profligate, gaudy, extravagant, wasteful contrivances. You couldn''t pay me to carry a cell-phone!! If these parents had half a brain, they''d crush the phone, save their money, and lock their kids in a library. Eh ghad!

[zippiez]

Kids are socially ignorant cows. They have no concept of how to handle any social situation. That is why parents are supposed to control and explain what is acceptable. Apparently, handing phones to kids is tantamount to sending them to the nearest strip club.

[rf35]

Here''s an idea: a cell phone jammer on school grounds! It may not stop them, but at least it would make it pretty much useless to have the phone out while at school. I heard a couple cinemas were looking into installing these things to keep rude people from disrupting the shows with their phones.

[mjlewis6]

Kind of puts a new spin on the politically charged atmosphere of LOCK EM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY...and legislative initiatives to brand *** offenders and register them for life....when the perps are the victim set politicians like to use. HEY, lock them up and throw away the key....the States and Fed are doing that to MANY PEOPLE....and now they can do it to kids...there is a sudden recognition of something else....really?

How about RESPECT THE US Constitution, STOP writing STATE laws that do not have the jurisdiction given the states as "Those rights not enumerated to the states, are reserved to the people"......

Consensual *** and flirting or images or whatever...are privacy issues of the people and the BS of political monsterization and registration and sexual predators....have fallen into the political arena for NEW LAWS and PUNISHMENTS...using children to get votes.

[sabre1111]

My son is 19, works part time and is a soph. in college..........you''''re telling me he should not have a phone!? You''''re really out there Babs............


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Posted by IndepTex

Yes, and I don''t want to be the guy that tells somehow how to raise their kid. But if you overprotect your kid, then they are going to be p*$$ies once they get out into the real world.

[clovernyc]

Religion is not the answer.

The overly permissive PARENTS are to blame and they should be fined. As part of their rehabilitation, their names and pictures should be posted on a community roster as offenders.

[psk123-2009]

This is an issue that should be strictly between parents and their teens. This should not involve these types of charges, nor should it involve the school.

Personally I would not allow my teens to have a phone that takes photos, nor internet, nor email, nor text. We have a family computer in the living room for internet and text. We have a camera that takes photos. The phone is for emergency usage only. Period. I don''t really care what Johnny or Suzie have, Johnny and Suzie are not my kids.

[reticentreba]

jennmarie620
So, it was OK for you to get pregnant as a teenager, but I shouldn''t let my teenager have a cell phone? What was that you were saying about common sense?

[dragonmouse-2009]

It''s STUPID to prosecute. If they send it themselves perhaps they should be reprimanded but if they are the recipients...how are you going to permit it anymore than you can stop SPAM.

If kids do stupid things then it should be up to the parents to get after them not the law. These kids need to learn if they are going to "put themselves out there" they are going to have a problem. A FINE perhaps is OK but prosecution? Both of the sender AND the recipient??? Just stop it.

In they "old days" my parents just took away the keys. I do not understand why this is a problem today.

[nolalou]

The resolution to this problem is pretty cut-and-dry.

Don''''t give teenagers cellphones!
Posted by BarbaraM99

I can understand why parents would want teenageers to have cell phones, in case of emergencies, for example. The solution would be only let them have basic phones with no camera, and no ability to receive photos! Most cariers have phones like that, and they are usually the ''free'' ones that are offered with the phone contract.

[evian_ycnan]

It is morality forced upon others by the state.

Posted by sabre1111 at 06:54 AM : Feb 05, 2009

Luray Town Attorney Convicted of Adultery -- Dec 2, 2003

Under Virginia law, adultery is a Class 4 misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $250.

"The legislature has identified it as a crime, the public policy of the state being to promote marriage, and not to promote divorce, and adultery is certainly an event that, as I''ve indicated before, tears at the very fabric of a marital partnership," said Blatt.


All it that is necessary for freedoms to be taken is for good men stand idle...

[rf35]

%u201CIn some cases, the photos are sent to harass other teens or to get attention. Other times, they''re viewed as a high-tech way to flirt. Either way, law enforcement officials want it to stop, even if it means threatening to add "*** offender" to a juvenile''s confidential record.%u201D

Go ahead and convict these kids. It will just end up making %u201Cseks offender%u201D a common label and eventually lower it to a status about equal to a traffic violation.

Besides, what would people expect from a school called Licking Valley? Just the name sounds pornographic! Anyway, is what they are doing really that bad? I suppose people would prefer these teens get naked for each other in person. Think about the alternatives, folks. You can''t knock up/get knocked up from a photo. Last I checked STD''s couldn''t be spread digitally.

Dr. Randall has the right idea. The buck has to stop with the parents. If they let their child use a cell phone, they have a right to set limits on what is acceptable and periodically inspect the contents of the phone to ensure compliance. Too bad common sense has become so uncommon.

[omnibus66]

''Hopefully we''ll get the message out to these kids,'' says Michael McAlexander, a prosecutor in Allen County, Ind.

Yes, the message that the human body is a dirty, nasty thing that should be covered at all times. Something to be ashamed of.

Sorry people, but todays kids are emerging from those Victorian views in spite of all of your Bible thumping. Courts have ruled again and again that in and of itself the naked body is NOT pornography.

Sending these photos is prima facia evidence of deep down stupidity, but that is the extent of it.

[newsjunkie71]

I can''t believe our system is attempting to prosecute these kids for doing this. This is a problem that the parents should handle, not the justice system. For one, people cannot prevent a text message from reaching their cell phone, so charging these kids for receiving the message without them knowingly consenting to the reception is is a violation of a persons 5th amendment right. I don''t know which is more disgusting: the fact that teens are just being ''teens'' and sending offensive material to one another or the prosecutors for labeling a child as a *** offender which will harm them for life. I think we need to focus on real problems in our society and let the parents handle their children.

[jennmarie620]

The resolution to this problem is pretty cut-and-dry.

Don''t give teenagers cellphones!

My 8 year old daughter is asking for one because her 8 and 10 year old cousins were given cellphones by their father. I adamantly refuse to give her a cellphone she can use. When she is older and able to get off of the bus at home after school and stay by herself for two hours until I get home, then I might get her one of those pre-programmed phones that only calls three numbers - in case there''s an emergency and she can''t get to the house phone.

But it''s absolutely ridiculous to give teenagers unlimited access to cellphones - let alone cellphones with texting and internet capabilities.

It''s called common sense among parents. (I''m a 27 year old mother and sometimes I feel I have more common sense as a parent than people old enough to be MY parents)

[barbaram99]

In my post I meant cell . I did hear adult talk. I did repete what I heard and thought nothing of it. Looking back. I wish I had not. I knew no better, The teacher did ask me where I heard the word. I said the foster home.I have heard it all.
There has to be away to handle this issue without ruining them by tossing them in jail.Seems to me the home is the blame. Childre do dumb things..I did..I think they handled things better years ago. Make cell that can''t text. I don''t use a cell. My friend said to me I don''t see the need for a camera in a phone. It is costly to text and send photos..We got grounded and things taken away, Even me when I was school age. They did not know how to deal with my blindress. What happened to common sense on the parents..They give them a cell, buy this/that to aplase them. No is not heard today.

[donevis-2009]

Now the Fed makes a federal case out of "show me yours and I''ll show you mine" Unbelievable!! Lets direct them to more important issues like boarder protection and Wall Street scamers. Naughty children are for parents to figure out and monitor, not the Fed.

[falselogic]

"These cases do pose a dilemma, concedes Wes Weaver, the principal at Licking Valley High School, where the Ohio girl attends school."

This just about sums it all up...

[sabre1111]

===Are you going to tell me that, when you were a kid, you didn''''t imitate what you saw people do in the movies? You didn''''t rationalize with yourself that it was o.k. to have $ex or smoke a little because some cool guy in a movie or t.v. show did it?===
Posted by staycalm

No. Never.

If one person is sending naked pictures to another to harrass, that''s one thing. Or if one person is a legal adult. But two flirting teens sending these pictures and they get charged with child pornagraphy and have *** offender status for the rest of their lives? This is abuse by law enforcement, plain and simple. It is morality forced upon others by the state.