New South Wales sexting laws are so badly written they should be reformed.
Sexting is the act of taking naked or partly naked photos or videos of yourself or another person (posing in a sexual way) and sharing the photos or videos with others using a carriage service, such as the Internet and/or mobile phones. Commonwealth laws state that it is a crime for a person under the age of 18 to participate in the act of sexting.
The contemporary issue of sexting has presented many points of deliberation, in particular that sexting laws wrongly criminalise young people. In addition, there are inconsistencies with the age of sexual consent at state and federal levels, and young people face harsh and uncorresponding punishment to the crime they have committed.
Although there are multiple arguments that support the potential reform of New South Wales sexting laws, there are some points that dispute it. Real child abusers exercising loopholes to avoid prosecution and are both factors contributing to the reluctance to reform state and national sexting laws.
Firstly, sexting laws were created to convict child abusers and to protect children from child abusers, not to convict young people.
When sexting laws were created, lawmakers did not consider that young people would participate in sexting; this was an unknown concept. The laws were passed and are presently able to criminalise young people under a law initially designed to convict child abusers.
The criminal act of young people sexting should not be in the same category as child pornography crimes. Both crimes are somewhat similar: sexting can involve the same amount of physical and mental exploitation of a young person as does child pornography. Howeve...
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...hnology may be developed that reformed sexting laws would not cover.
This generation revolves around technology and ground-breaking developments in technology are made constantly. If sexting laws were to be reformed, consider the amount of technological development that would occur in the allotted time frame to reform a law. The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) completes one to two inquiries in a year. These inquiries may or may not even be successful in Parliament. In summary, reform of sexting laws may seem redundant as the law reform process takes a large amount of time to complete. So, a new technology that may be created, that is not covered in the reformed law, could hold some offenders exempt from prosecution. The issue of no limit on technological development but a time restriction on law reform contributes to the reluctance to reform sexting laws.
Veysey, B. M. Zgoba, K. & Dalessandro, M. (2008). A preliminary step towards evaluating the impact of Megan’s Law: A trend analysis of sexual offenses in New Jersey from 1985 to 2005. Justice Research and Policy, 10(2), 1-18.
We have all watched television shows, we have heard the warnings, and have read numerous articles that expose internet predators and pedophiles. Most of us are aware of the dangers surrounding children and teenagers as they navigate the internet’s virtual world. There is no shortage of predators online. Chris Hanson has a very popular show called To Catch a Predator that has helped bring awareness to the public of this heinous crime against children, and while this is extremely important to know and prevent, there is another large segment of society that is at risk too. This paper will focus on this “other” population.
Zilney, L. J., & Zilney, L. A. (2009). A War on Sexual Offending Laws. Perverts and predators: the making of sexual offending laws (p. 66-74). Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield.
Currently, there are laws in place against minors sexting and sexting to minors and they fall under the child pornography category. While the laws are intended to protect minors from sexual predators, what most minors do not understand is that they are subject to them as well. This means that, if fifteen-year-old Timmy decides to sext his fifteen-year-old girlfriend, Sarah, a naked picture of himself, both Timmy and Sarah could be tried in court with charges of disseminating child pornography and possessing child pornography. These serious charges can result in having to register as a sex offender for several years, although the message may have been sent and received consensually by both parties. This...
There are many topics nowadays that are still hard to talk about openly. Though we’ve opened the door on many controversies, some of the simplest parts of life can be the hardest to discuss. For most of us, sex in particular can be a taboo topic, which may be the reason why so many children and teens are misinformed on the inner workings of sexual relationships and how they develop as we grow and mature. For some adolescents, this can lead to an unhealthy fixation on the concept of sex, and in some cases, lead them to take action on a situation they do not fully understand. Sexual offenses are perceived as some of the most heinous crimes, but how could our views be affected if those acts were performed by a teenager? We may sometimes consider that they are the same as adult sex offenders; however our judgment can often be clouded by our lack of understanding. Adolescent sex offenders are different from adult sex offenders, are treated in a different way, and often have very different circumstances of their crime.
Are we bothered by the fact that in the current social climate, the rights of convicted pedophiles are routinely violated and nobody cares. Rules of evidence are stretched, and terms of punishment are increased. The danger of this precedent is impossible to ignore.
Statutory rape laws are valuable in protecting the rights of minors. Possibly, if the laws were revamped to suit the changing attitudes’ of modern society, the law would be more effective. In place of worrying about the misinterpreted claims of statutory rape, prosecutors can focus on the more crucial cases. With more defined modern guidelines, society would be aware of the laws regarding statutory rape and some more pleased. Statutory rape laws are no longer used to prohibit teenagers from having sex. Instead, the regulations are to make certain that the teenagers who are having sexual intercourse are not unknowingly being emotionally forced into it by their significantly older partner’s power. Ideally, statutory rape laws can only improved the lives of teenagers.
Crespi, T, Segool, N 2013, ‘Sexting at Sixteen: Reflections on Legal and Professional Issues’, The Online Journal of Counseling and Education, vol 4, no.2, retrieved May 14th 2014
To comprehend the underlying levels of conviction, there are unfortunate factors from the police, the criminal justice system, the probability of evidence and issue of consent that make convictions immensely difficult to prove. This essay will investigate those measures showing the contrasts of rape and why it is tricky to prove rape occurred without consent, without any corroborative evidence, attitudes of police towards rape victims, the victims withdrawing their report due to personal circumstances and the handling of victims in court, that lead to many offenders having a non-custodial sentence or being acquitted of a rape charge. In the first paragraph, I will explain what constitutes rape and the variations of relationships in which rape is committed. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (the Act) came into force on the 1st May 2004. The purpose of the Act was to strengthen and modernise the law on sexual offences, whilst improving preventative measures and the protection of individuals from sexual offenders.
Sexting is an issue that many people are still unclear on. Sexting is the exchanging of nude or seminude pictures or videos by cell phones (Hewitt and Driscoll). These media files can be exchanged by teens as young as 11 to married adults in their 40s. Sexting can hold serious consequences, such as being charged with child pornography, having to register in the sex offenders list, and even facing jail time (Hewitt and Driscoll). Even after knowing the gravity of the consequences, people continue to sext. The reason behind this phenomenon is still a mystery. Some believe that some individuals want to sext in order to gain the attention that they aren’t getting from significant other. A woman who had participated in sexting even claimed that a man she sexted with made her feel wanted (Tapper). The same article states that men believe “if you get a woman to send you a naked picture, you’re cool. It’s an ego boost.” Although many know sexting can be a crime, many individuals who sext do i...
Child Pornography, as stated in section 18 of the United States Constitution, defines child pornography as generally “any visual depiction involving the use of a minor in sexually explicit conduct.” Sexually explicit conduct is defined as “actual or simulated” sexual intercourse, which includes genital-genital, oral-genital, anal-genital, or anal-anal, “whether between persons of the same or opposite sex.” Sexually explicit conduct also entails the crucial “lascivious exhibition of genitals or pubic area,” which will be explored in more detail in the case study. Finally, section 18 depicts the transportation of such conduct through the use of computers. Basically, digital cameras, scanners, video capture cards etc. are all used to convert any image or such to the desired and needed format to easily store or transport child pornography.
Teen’s today face serious criminal charges when they get in trouble for sexting. Sexting is an exchange of nude or seminude images via a telecommunication device. When teens are engaging in sexting, they are not thinking of the possible criminal charges they can face. Sexting among teens is a common issue that we face today in our highly technological world. Laws are not able to keep up with the rate of technology advancements. Teacher, parents, and Louisiana law makers need to be more aware of this issue to try and protect teens from endangering themselves and their future.
Although sexting can be viewed as a serious offence, many young people still perform the act. There are many reasons a...
In recent years, pornography has established itself as perhaps the most controversial topic arising out of the use of the Internet. The easy availability of this type of sexually explicit material has caused a panic among government officials, family groups, religious groups and law enforcement bodies and this panic has been perpetuated in the media.
... sexually explicit content on the internet kid's usage of the internet must be monitored to reduce harm. Public and private schooling needs to pick up in the age gap and start educating children earlier because learning privately from pornography is not a healthy alternative.