Chicago Tribune
Sexting may spell court for children
Kids trading photos seen as child porn, which is a felony
January 29, 2010|By Kristen Schorsch, Tribune reporter
Page B4
The idea behind sexting, or sending a
nude picture via a cell phone text, is not so
new. Children played doctor long before
grade school students were armed with
cell phones capable of snapping photos.
They just didn't record an image of the
offense.
But technology has created a trail of
evidence.
Children and teens are capturing nude
photos or videos of each other and
sending them from friend to friend, and
that's landing them in court.
"I think there has always been a sort of,
you show me yours and I'll show you
mine, and a curiosity there," Porter
County, Ind., Prosecutor Brian Gensel
said.
"The problem now is the stakes are so
much higher because if juveniles send a
picture of themselves to someone else,
well, that can be disseminated to the
entire world within minutes. And that's
distribution of child pornography,” Gensel
said.
Last week, two middle school students in
Valparaiso, Ind., were caught sending
nude pictures of themselves to each other
on their cell phones. The students were
caught when the 13-year-old girl's cell
phone rang in class, and her teacher
confiscated it, according to a police report.
The girl cried that she would get in trouble
because a 12-year-old boy sent her a "dirty
picture."
The boy sent the girl a picture of his
genitals and requested that she do the
same, the report said. The girl then texted
him a picture of her naked, police said.
The students have been charged with child
exploitation and possession of child
pornography, both felonies. They were
referred to the county's juvenile probation
department,
which
will
determine
whether authorities pursue or drop the
charges, Gensel said. If convicted, the
students could be required to register as
sex offenders, he said.
Franklin
Middle
School
Principal
Christopher Fields would not say whether
the students have been disciplined. He
said sexting has been addressed with the
student body, but he would not elaborate.
Four percent of cell phone-owning teens
12 to 17 say they've sent nude or nearly
nude images or videos of themselves via
text, and 15 percent say they've received
such images, a recent Pew Research
Center survey shows.
(cont. on page B6)
In Plainfield last month, a 16-year-old girl
took a nude photo of herself and texted it
to a male student. The photo spread so
quickly that some of the original senders
told police they had received it from
others.
Illinois legislation is pending to make it
illegal to upload on the Internet or
disseminate a video of someone without
their consent or with the intent to cause
harm.
Meanwhile, an Ohio program requires
juveniles charged in sexting cases to
relinquish their cell phones and attend
classes on the legal and emotional
consequences of sexting, according to the
Montgomery County prosecutor's office.
Louis Kraus, head of child and adolescent
psychiatry at Rush University Medical
Center in Chicago, said teens who sext
don't understand the consequences of
their actions. “The brain isn't fully
developed until people reach their mid20s, and that makes teens impulsive.”
"On one level (sending nude pictures) is
safer than physical intimacy ... but on
another level it is taking a risk and being
taken advantage of that has a level of
shame that is striking," Kraus said.