In today’s American society, almost everyone, even children as young as six, owns a cell phone with a camera. Although convenient, camera phones also open the door to massive problems concerning child pornography that stem from sexting, or sending nude or lascivious photos. According to a 2010 Federal Bureau of Investigation survey1 of 4,400 middle and high school students, “approximately eight percent of students reported that they had sent a sext of themselves to others while thirteen percent said they had received a sext.” The main problem with sexting, aside from being child pornography if it is a picture of minor, is the ease of dissemination of the sext to other contacts or even the Internet. The United States alone has seen several students commit suicide after a sext intended for one person’s eyes goes viral or is sent to the entire high school. Such was the case of Ohio high school student, Jesse Logan, who sent nude photos to her boyfriend who then sent them to other students who harassed her until she committed suicide.2
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...
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...tle11/ar8/ch8.html. Accessed on 16 Apr. 2104.
10 Merritt, Jim. Senate Bill No. 256. 2013. Available at http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2013/PDF/IN/IN0256.1.pdf. Accessed on 16 Apr. 2014.
11 Ind. Code § 35-50-3-3 (Amended by Acts 1977, P.L. 340). Available at http://www.ai.org/legislative/ic/code/title35/ar50/ch3.html. Accessed on 16 Apr. 2014.
12 Oddi, Marcia. "The Indiana Law Blog." : Ind. Law. N.p., 25 Dec. 2008. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. http://indianalawblog.com/archives/2008/12/ind_law_16_is_i.html.
13"Sexting." Sex Crime Criminal Defense RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. http://www.sexcrimecriminaldefense.com/sexting/.
14 Hinduja, Sameer, and Justin Patchin. "State Sexting Laws: A Brief Review of State Sexting Laws and Policies." CyberBullying.US. Cyberbullying Research Center, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. http://www.cyberbullying.us/state_sexting_laws.pdf.
... discussed within the scope of this paper but can be found in parts 3745-81-80 to 3745-81-90 of the Administrative Code (OEPA, n.d).
In January 2011, the bill was referred to the committee, and the hearing was held in May of the same year for the House and Senate to change the wording of the 2008 version of the Massachusetts Law. Various interest groups a...
[9] Section 17 (3) (d) s. 22 (1)(b) of the C (S) A 1995, section 30 of
statute. The Supreme Court of Illinois affirmed. People v. Gacy, 103 Ill. 2d 1, 82 Ill.Dec. 391,
Reed, O. Lee, Peter J. Shedd, Marisa Anne Pagnattaro, Jere W. Morehead. The Legal and
And An Administrative Law Solution.” Tulane Law Review 87.2 (2012): 427-455. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
The internet provides ground for individuals to create, access, and share child sexual abuse images world wide at the click of abutton. Child pornography images are readily available through virtually every Internet technology including website, email, instant messaging.
413 U.S. 15, 93 S. Ct. 2607, 37 L. Ed. 2d 419, 1973 U.S. 149.
Schools and programs can have assemblies and discuss the intent of people who sext and the consequences of sexting, whether they are minor or severe. The severe consequences of sexting or posting sexually explicit photos online can be psychologically damaging (ex. emotional trauma to the subject of the photo), especially if the distribution of the photo ends up in the wrong hands, or to an unintended audience. It is known that there is a "social disapproval over sexting, which causes many teens to not report such incidents (Terry, 2013, p. 153). Therefore we cannot be sure of how widespread the act of sexting is, in an accurate manner. Findings vary among researchers regarding the actual frequency of sexting as can be seen in numerous
Sexting is defined as the sending of sexually explicit photos, images, text messages, or e-mails by using a cell phone or other mobile device [1]. It is common for people to send out or receive explicit images, especially in young teenagers. When young people share these photos they are often unaware of the legal implications that go with it. Young people are oblivious that serious legal action could be taken, as they are underage. It not only affects the person that sends it out, but also everyone who receives the image. As discussed in the lecture, the law regarding sexting varies in each state, however explicit images of young people could be seen as child pornography and the people involved could possibly be
Feyerick, Deborah, and Sheila Steffen. “’Sexting’ Lands Teen on Sex Offender List.” CNN.com. N.p., 8 Apr. 2009. Web. 25 Apr. 2010.
Walsh, Wendy, Janis Wolak, and David Finkelhor. “Sexting: When Are State Prosecutors Deciding to Prosecute?” Crimes Aginst Children Research Center (2013): 1–4. Print. The Third National Juvenile Online Victimization Study (NJOV‐3).
"Criminology.fsu.edu/center/jjeep/pdf/annual2006/chapter5ar06.pdf."
One of the most obvious effects of pornography on the Internet is the easy access that juveniles have to it. All it takes is the click of a mouse and there they are, thousands of nude photos, of women and men doing all sorts sexually explicit of things. Many teens first come across these sorts of thing accidentally. But is it really accidental if advertisement, spams, and e-mail advertising free porn sites pop up every five minutes? How can teens stay away from these kinds of things if they're right there in font of them? "In a 2001 poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 70 of 15-to 17-year-olds said they had accidentally come across pornography online." [1] This leads us to wonder does someone actually want teens to view these sites. If porn is meant to...
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.