Child porn charges justified

Six Pennsylvania teenagers are facing charges for creating and possessing nude photos on their cellphones, the New York Times reported Jan. 27.

Three girls allegedly took, and sent, naked photos of themselves to three boys at their high school.

The girls, who are under 18, are being charged with manufacturing and disseminating child pornography while the boys, also under 18, have been charged with possessing it.

The state hasn’t revealed how it discovered the photos and it should do so; citizens have a right to know how their information is tracked.

The state acted rightly to charge them in order to discourage other teens looking to do the same thing.

Child pornography laws were designed to protect children and, although the teenagers may think of themselves as adults, their poor judgement shows they continue to need the law to protect them.

The state shouldn’t begin modifying the law’s definition and should apply it strictly in all cases to prevent harm to children.

Although the girls meant for only the boys to see the photos, there’s a possibility they could have been distributed more widely and fallen into the hands of someone intent on exploiting them.

It would be difficult to follow through with the charges because the teens’ careless mistake doesn’t seem to merit the tough sentences adults convicted of trafficking child porn receive.

Although the teens shouldn’t face jail time for their actions, they should be fined or given community service hours in order to show them the severity of their actions.

It’s unlikely these teens will repeat their mistake.

According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy’s study last month, ‘sexting,’ or the act of sending explicit photos through cellphones, is a growing trend and the state shouldn’t put the onus solely on parents to monitor their children’s behaviour.

Celebrity culture encourages teens to act irresponsibly and the state, which allows the media to disseminate highly-sexualized images, should have a role in teaching teens safe Internet and cellphone use.

What seems like merely a stupid mistake may be indicative of a growing problem among oversexed teens and the state should take care to uncover all the case’s implications.

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

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