Should teens be prosecuted for 'sexting'?
Phillip Alpert found out the hard way. He had just turned 18 when he sent a naked photo of his 16-year-old girlfriend, a photo she had taken and sent him, to dozens of her friends and family after an argument. The high school sweethearts had been dating for almost 2½ years. "It was a stupid thing I did because I was upset and tired and it was the middle of the night and I was an immature kid," says Alpert. Orlando, Florida, police didn't see it that way. Alpert was arrested and charged with sending child pornography, a felony to which he pleaded no contest but was later convicted. He was sentenced to five years probation and required by Florida law to register as a sex offender.
What do you think about this? Is this going too far?
What do you think about this? Is this going too far?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ur Lady Deejay on -
This really is crazy. This will pretty much ruin his life.
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Permalink Reply by qns on -
Maybe the fact that he has to register as a sex offender is going a bit far but you said he turned 18. Although, he is a teen he is also now an adult. Maybe the law needs to be changed but are we forgettign the girl is 16. Which means she isn't an adult yet. How could he date a female for 2 1/2 years and send a naked picture of her to her friends and family. That's humiliating. I don't feel too much sympathy for him. Sorry. He is an idiot and he should pay the consequences. No one would have known he had the picture had he not do something so idiotic because he was mad. I don't think he should register as a sex offender but the law does have to protect teens under the age of 18 even if they are sending pictures of themselves naked to others. Phillip was an idiot and he should pay for doing something so stupid.
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Permalink Reply by The Essence of Beauty on -
Yes that is going way too far. She took the picture, she sent it to him....at best they should leave this for the parents to handle. He is no sex offender, just a dumb kid who made a dumb decision.
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Permalink Reply by mrsjones32000 on -
Absolutely they are going too far. Also, the way I see it, the girlfriend should have been arrested too if they arrested him.
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Permalink Reply by qns on
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Maybe not the kids but what about the parents? Kids will do stupid things and posting nude pictures isn't only stupid but it's dangerous. What if there's a 15 old girl putting pictures of herself online and a pedophile who sees her ever day lives up the block? Now this sicko knows what this little kid looks like naked. These kids are making the jobs of law enforcement that much harder. Maybe the punishment should be given out on a case by case basis. I do however think this sexting epidemic is a serious one. Parents definitely should be held responsible for their kids sending pictures out naked.
Eddie Parker said:I heard that even teens who post nude pictures of themselves online can be charged with possession of child pornography.Are we now going to start locking up kids for being stupid?
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Permalink Reply by qns on
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Something has to be done.
I'm not a parent and I won't pretend I know how it is to raise children in this day and age but the safety of these kids are at stake. These girls think posting nake pictures is cute or a way for boys to like them not realizing how serious of situation they can find themselves in with the wrong person. You have perverts that will not only sexually assault the child but kill them. No parents can't monitor their children 24/7. I agree with that. So, what do you propose should done? A girl sending her boyfriend a picture of herself naked and her boyfriend is over the age of 18. I was watching Tyra and kids as young as 13 were sexting. IF they weren't sending pictures, they were sending dirty text messages. What should be done to combat this issue.
Eddie Parker said:I agree with you," Kids will do stupid things and posting nude pictures isn't only stupid but it's dangerous." However, it's tough for parents to monitor kids 24/7.
queens_nyc said:Maybe not the kids but what about the parents? Kids will do stupid things and posting nude pictures isn't only stupid but it's dangerous. What if there's a 15 old girl puttign pictures of herself online and a pedophile who sees her ever day lives up the block? Now this sicko knows what this little kid looks like naked. These kids are making the jobs of law enforcement that much harder. Maybe the punishment should be given out on a case by case basis. I do however think this sexting epidemic is a serious one. Parents possible should be held responsible for their kids sending pictures out naked.
Eddie Parker said:I heard that even teens who post nude pictures of themselves online can be charged with possession of child pornography.Are we now going to start locking up kids for being stupid?
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Permalink Reply by Crystal on -
I’m sorry, but these kids are not stupid and they know what they are doing. We as adults need to stop claiming these kids don't know what they are doing and make them responsible for their actions. Maybe being labeled as a sex offender is a little harsh but some type of punishment is due. Teens have more access to technology now then every. They have the ability to put passwords on their cell phone, make their myspace private all in the name of keeping information from their parents. But the best thing we can say is they don't know what they are doing. Wake up! We knew what we were doing at their age.
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Permalink Reply by qns on
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I understand there's only so much you can do as a parent. Your child has her/his own mind but what do you think should be done in these kind of situations?
This was in the same article Ur Lady Deejay open this forum on...
Last year, Jessica Logan, a Cincinnati, Ohio, teen, hanged herself after her nude photo, meant for her boyfriend, was sent to teenagers at several high schools. For months after, her father says, she was the subject of ridicule and taunts. "Everyone knew about that photo," Bert Logan says. "She could not live it down." On July 3, his wife found her. "She had been getting dressed to go out. The curling iron was still warm. It was so unexpected," Logan says. "I heard my wife scream, I ran up to Jessie's room, but it was too late."
I'm assuming you're saying parents shouldn't be held responsible and I'm not disagreeing with you. There has to be a reasonable solution for those girls that are sending pictures of themselves naked and punishment for those that send out pictures of naked underage girls.
I'm not saying he should be registerd as a sex offender but what that 18 yr old did was horrible.
Eddie Parker said:Children
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, 'Speak to us of Children.'
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Kahlil Gibran
Eddie Parker said:There were perverts looking to hurt children before cell phones and computers.Parents have to sit down and talk with their children about perverts on the Internet and 'sexting'
queens_nyc said:Something has to be done.
I'm not a parent and I won't pretend I know how it is to raise children in this day and age but the safety of these kids are at stake. These girls think posting nake pictures is cute or a way for boys to like them not realizing how serious of situation they can find themselves in with the wrong person. You have perverts that will not only sexually assault the child but kill them. No parents can't monitor their children 24/7. I agree with that. So, what do you propose should done? A girl sending her boyfriend a picture of herself naked and her boyfriend is over the age of 18. I was watching Tyra and kids as young as 13 were sexting. IF they weren't sending pictures, they were sending dirty text messages. What should be done to combat this issue.
Eddie Parker said:I agree with you," Kids will do stupid things and posting nude pictures isn't only stupid but it's dangerous." However, it's tough for parents to monitor kids 24/7.
queens_nyc said:Maybe not the kids but what about the parents? Kids will do stupid things and posting nude pictures isn't only stupid but it's dangerous. What if there's a 15 old girl puttign pictures of herself online and a pedophile who sees her ever day lives up the block? Now this sicko knows what this little kid looks like naked. These kids are making the jobs of law enforcement that much harder. Maybe the punishment should be given out on a case by case basis. I do however think this sexting epidemic is a serious one. Parents possible should be held responsible for their kids sending pictures out naked.
Eddie Parker said:I heard that even teens who post nude pictures of themselves online can be charged with possession of child pornography.Are we now going to start locking up kids for being stupid?
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Permalink Reply by Ur Lady Deejay on
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Nope. He's white.
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Permalink Reply by AQUEEN2B on -
I do not have children. While I think that the punishment is harsh it will definitely cause him to think and inform others about the consequences of receiving and distributing these types of photos. Anytime the Government gets involved the consequences are going to be harsh but they also create awareness. Laws cannot account for individuals it is a response to action or nonaction. I believe that parents should educate their children about this new phenonmenon and the consequences that it can carry. This is a very dangerous world. Satan has upped the ante things that were harmless are not harmless now. Kids have alot to face (technology, sexuality, individuality) now and they are not always equipped to handle these things.
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Permalink Reply by Crystal on
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You are correct no 13 year old that is saying, "great I will send this naked pic and be tried as a sex offender. But 13 year olds or older know that it is wrong from the start. We have become a society of catering to teen wrongs. I’m not saying tagging them as a sex offender is the answer but some repercussion is order.
Hannah Drake said:Ms. CJ, you get it. In order for this to stop parents can take matters like that into their own hands. It is not the law's job to police your children. Get them a basic cell phone, don't let them have a webcam, montior their use on the internet, don't let them have a Myspace/Facebook/whatever page, don't pay for the texting service on the phone. There are ways for parents to be parents and stop the madness. But anytime you leave it to the law to regulate if your child is taking nude photos, you have already lost the battle.
As for Crystal's comment I have to say, no child in their right mind thinks if I send a nude picture of myself I am going to be prosecuted for child porn and be labled a sex offender. Now they might since this has been all over the news but before that come on, no one thought of that. Even when I first heard of it I thought, Huh? That was crazy. If I thought that as an adult I know kids were not thinking that way. They know what they are doing in as far as taking/sending the nude pics but the repercussions I am sure they are not thinking are so far reaching. I don't know any 13 year old that is saying, "great I will send this naked pic and be tried as a sex offender."
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Permalink Reply by antisocialist87 on
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I think this is going too far.
Teenagers are known for their indiscretion. That's why the term is 'youthful indiscretion'. Forcing a kid to sign up as a sex offender is obnoxious at best.
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