Adolescents, Rapid Social Change, and the Law by Roger J.R. Levesque

Author:Roger J.R. Levesque
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Conclusion

Adolescents’ sexting raises many important issues relating to the protection of youth. But, current legal responses to protecting youth make one thing clear. Minors should not be prosecuted for consensual sexting under traditional child pornography laws. First, sexting is a common practice among teenagers, and is prevalent among teenagers all over the world. When sexting is consensual, there is not a “culpable party” and a “victim.” Rather, teenagers who engage in consensual sexting are often sending sexual photos to their significant other or friends. Sexting generally remains innocent behavior for many teenagers, and they should not have to spend time in prison for taking a sexual photo of themselves and sending it to a consenting party. Child pornography laws have been used to prosecute minors in many situations, including when a 16-year-old girl sent her 17-year-old boyfriend a sext of herself, in the case of A.H., and when a school official confiscated cell phones and found semi-naked photos of girls on the phone, in Miller v. Mitchell. The five rationales articulated in New York v. Ferber do not justify the government exercising additional authority to regulate consensual teenage sexting under child pornography laws. Likewise, the factors from Bellotti v. Baird indicate that it should be unconstitutional to prosecute a minor for consensual sexting, since it does not act in the best interest of the minor.

To solve problems raised by prosecuting minors for sexting, lawmakers should enact statutes that decriminalize consensual teenage sexting. Doing so will ensure that parties may recover from the harms associated with exploitative sexting, while minors will not be prosecuted for engaging in sexting with other minors. In place of criminalizing minors, schools and parents should work together to implement an effective sexting education regime. In schools, this could be incorporated in previously existing courses or initiatives, including those that help students understand coercive behavior. Since parents do not have all the necessary information to teach their child about sexting, or detect if their child is involved in an exploitative sexting situation, schools should educate parents about the reality and dangers of sexting.

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