Did anyon catch NPR's "Talk of the Nation" in which they discussed underage "sexting"? (Yeah, I didn't know what it is either. Apparently it is when tweens and teens take pornographic photos of themselves and send them to people.) :thud:
Once I recovered from my urge to move the whole family to a nice little commune in Montana, I was able to consider both sides of the argument.
The central question presented was whether to prosecute these adolescents for charges of pornography manufacturing and distributing. Each side offered equally compelling arguments and left me squarely in the middle. On one hand, a permissive environment breeds more pedophelia (sp?), cyberbullying, and creates sort of a proving ground for future offenders. On the other hand, kids are going to do stupid stuff. Unfortunately technology memorializes their stupidity FOREVER. It seems extreme to label a girl and the boy involved as a couple as sex offenders for sexual experimentation with a cell phone. It seems especially harsh because in many cases the images distributed are of the senders themselves. Who amongst us escaped adolescence without a couple lapses in judgment? Or in some of our cases, several dozen lapses in judgement?
At this point, I could get all lawyerly and talk about things like "no bright line test" or "each case turnd on its own facts", blah, blah, blah. In the mean time, I'm interested in your thoughts on this phenomenon which I *really* didn't want to think about in the context of raising my own kids. <shudder>
Anyone know of any property for sale in a remote area of the country? I'm getting closer to hiding out each day.
Kelly
Once I recovered from my urge to move the whole family to a nice little commune in Montana, I was able to consider both sides of the argument.
The central question presented was whether to prosecute these adolescents for charges of pornography manufacturing and distributing. Each side offered equally compelling arguments and left me squarely in the middle. On one hand, a permissive environment breeds more pedophelia (sp?), cyberbullying, and creates sort of a proving ground for future offenders. On the other hand, kids are going to do stupid stuff. Unfortunately technology memorializes their stupidity FOREVER. It seems extreme to label a girl and the boy involved as a couple as sex offenders for sexual experimentation with a cell phone. It seems especially harsh because in many cases the images distributed are of the senders themselves. Who amongst us escaped adolescence without a couple lapses in judgment? Or in some of our cases, several dozen lapses in judgement?
At this point, I could get all lawyerly and talk about things like "no bright line test" or "each case turnd on its own facts", blah, blah, blah. In the mean time, I'm interested in your thoughts on this phenomenon which I *really* didn't want to think about in the context of raising my own kids. <shudder>
Anyone know of any property for sale in a remote area of the country? I'm getting closer to hiding out each day.
Kelly
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