"Sexting" -- middle schoolers busted for nude cell photos
 

Why do middle schoolers need cell phones again?

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1151414

Hang-up for ‘sexting’ boys
Six middle-schoolers may face kid porn rap
By Aaron Gouveia & Jessica Heslam / Cape Cod Times & Boston Herald
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - Updated 5h ago


FALMOUTH - Six middle school students could face child porn charges after a boy took a nude photo of his 13-year-old girlfriend and “sexted” it to his pals’ cell phones, cops said.

The six boys, ages 12 to 14, will be summoned to Falmouth District Court for a hearing to determine whether they should be charged with possessing, exhibiting or distributing child porn in the form of a text message photo, according to The Cape Cod Times.

Wendy Murphy, who lectures on sex crimes at the New England School of Law, said “sexting” almost has become an “epidemic.” Murphy said, “I know it seems heavy-handed to bring child porn charges. Law enforcement is using the only tool it has for what has become a huge problem nationwide.”

Columbia University Professor Sari Locker said surveys suggest one in five teens has sent or received nude or semi-nude pictures. “When boys receive a nude picture of a girl, they think the next time they see her they can go further with her in a sexual way than before,” she said. “It becomes an invitation to advance a sexual relationship.” But Locker said she believes criminal charges are excessive: “Clearly these boys are not sexual predators or pedophiles."

UPDATE: Brian Hunt, the father of one of the six middle school boys facing possible child pornography charges for “sexting” a girl’s partially nude photo by cell phone, said the boys are “scared” and have been punished enough, reports The Cape Cod Times.

“They’re all good kids,” Hunt said. “But they are young. A 13-year-old did what a 13-year-old did. They all knew that they weren’t supposed to do it.”

Hunt told the Cape Cod Times the boys, aged 12 to 14, have all been punished by their families and have “learned their lesson.”

Read more at The Cape Cod Times.

The incident happened weeks ago...but "sexting" has been going on for years!

Similar incident at my daughter's school (when she was in 8th grade). Girl she knew well posed for her boyfriend flashing her "teets". Boyfriend naturally propogated said photo to others...took less than a day to make it though the entire school population.

Boy was not disciplined. Girl was suspended for two weeks. Upon return, she was reinstated as captain of the volleyball team! Apparently, this was a new incident and the administration had no real policy to dictate protocol...

Oh, I've heard of it... I am just amazed every time I see it in the news (which seems to be quite frequently).

What a freaking waste, and yes I've heard of this too. Don't cops have something better to do than going after kids swapping nude photos of themselves??

Are you kidding??!!!

1st grader get slapped with a sexual harrassment lawsuit for kissing a girl!

A teenage girl get suspended for violating a "zero-tolerance" drug policy by giving a fellow student a Midol for her menstrual cramps!

The list goes on...

We've completely lost our friggin' minds in this country! It used to be there was a sense of modesty that would have made such things very unlikely for most kids. This is pretty sad.

I wonder where that went.....no parental direction?

Are you serious? If a punk sent my daughter an unsolicited picture of himself the police better do something or I will.

and no I don't have to worry about my daughter doing the same, she knows better thanks to her parents.

That would be my guess. I'm sure my daughters do some things I'm not aware of, but I try pretty hard to stay involved enough in their lives to make sure they're not doing things like this. Besides, you really have to teach kids stufflike this when they're young. Once they are in their upper teens, they are less inclined to adopt their parents sense of morality and decorum.

It's usually the daughters sending out pics of themselves. Get a grip please. Do you really want to waste law enforcement resources on this rather than going after real pedophiles, murders and rapists?

Only in your mind! Kids always did stupid things without their parents necessarily knowing. Now with cell phones it's even easier. We've completely lost our friggin' minds if we treat this merely inappropriate activity the same as child abuse or child pornography possession by adults.

You do realize that your grandpa probably felt that way about your dad who felt that way about you. That list can go pretty far back

I'm glad most people don't agree with thoughts like this. Gotta be in the running for "least amount of thought going into a post" of all time. I'd say more but don't want an infraction.

So what are you saying? Do you want your own kid to go to prison for receiving a nude image even if he or she didn't request it? You really don't think there are more urgent crimes to attend to?

My post was clear enough for most, it not then re-read it.
My boys do not take cell phones to school, as they don't own one.