Teens Charged with Child Pornography

Teens Charged with Child Pornography

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

filed under: family

When one teen sent naked photos of herself to friends, everyone got in trouble.

You may have heard about a 14-year-old girl who may face felony charges for snapping naked pictures of herself on her camera phone and sending them to her classmates at Pinckney High School in Pinckney, MI.

The girl (who insists she was just "clowning around") took photos of her genitals and face, and sent them to three or four friend's phones. However, police estimate that more than 200 students received the photo.

Principal Jim Darga has suspended ten students and a total of about 20, including the 14-year-old, could be disciplined.

According to prosecutor David Morse, some of the suspended students could face criminal charges since the image could be considered child pornography.

Does this seem harsh?

Pittsburgh Police Detective Mike Overholt says its essential that teenagers understand they face charges associated with sex crimes if they're caught with images of underage peers -- even if they are underage themselves.

Possessing, photographing, selling or transferring sexually explicit images of anyone under 18 is a second-degree felony punishable by up to five years imprisonment in Pennsylvania.

Tell us -- should the students who received the naked pictures be penalized?

6 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

I think if the cops have proof that the student opened/forwarded the pics, then yes they should be punished. But what about students who may have opened them by accident?

- RealMomsHaveCurves

Posted 10/21/08 05:57 PM

Should she be punished? YES by school suspension. Along with any student that forwarded/shared the photos. But more importantly I think she should receive counseling! She should also have to write an essay about children who are victims of child pornography and sex slave trafficing.

- AK Mom

Posted 10/21/08 06:10 PM

All the students that sent out the photos should be punished. It would be a crime if one child were 15-16 and the other child were 10-12. Where do we draw the line and tell our kids you shouldn’t do certain things unless you are an adult and prepared to accept the consequences? Should we allow young children to be photographed in sexually explicit ways and send that to older teens and young adults? It was just another “child” that took the photo, or encouraged the photo! Lets set some boundaries here.

- bronxsmom

Posted 10/21/08 09:02 PM

This is a form of exploitation. Even if she sent the pictures to a few kids, someone obviously shared them by forwarding the messages to other students. Those students should get in trouble, right along with her. These days ‘clowing around’ seems to be the trend, and in many cases gets way out of hand. Stop it now before it gets worse!

- JoLynn

Posted 10/21/08 11:07 PM

Who is giving irresponsible children cell phones and paying for texting plans? The parrents aren’t parenting and children push bounderies. Everything should be case by case there is no one punishment fits all. Our country is going to hell.

- dust

Posted 03/14/09 01:42 AM

if the person tha recived the picture didn’t ask for it then how can they be at fault. the person that sent the picture if it was of herself and she wasen’t asking for money. whose the victom.

- Anonymous

Posted 10/05/09 09:02 AM