ACLU Sues DA Who Threatened Teen Girls with Child Porn Charges

Fresh off their victory over sex offender registry restrictions in the Pittsburgh-area, the ACLU of Pennsylvania has filed a complaint in federal court against a Wyoming County district attorney who threatened three high school girls with child porn charges arising from semi-nude cell phone pictures of themselves. You can read the complaint here.  For more coverage, check out Ars Technica and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit today against the Wyoming County district attorney for threatening three high school girls with child pornography charges over digital photos in which they appear topless or in their underwear. The district attorney has demanded that in order to avoid the charges, the girls be placed on probation, participate in a five-week re-education program and be subject to random drug testing. The photos were among several discovered by Tunkhannock School District officials on students' cell phones.

"Sexting," the practice of sending nude or semi-nude photos of oneself via cell phones or posting them on the Internet, has become increasingly widespread among teenagers. A recent survey found that approximately 20% of all teenagers have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves.

At issue in this case are two photos depicting three teenage girls. One shows Marissa Miller and Grace Kelly from the waist up wearing white bras. The other depicts Nancy Doe (a pseudonym used to protect the girl's real identity) standing outside a shower with a bath towel wrapped around her body beneath her breasts. Neither of the two photos depicts sexual activity or reveals anything below the waist.

The district attorney has asserted that the girls were accomplices to the production of child pornography because they allowed themselves to be photographed. The district attorney has not, however, threatened to charge the individuals who distributed the photos.

I'm curious to see if any of the court challenges to these prosecutions have any success. Ultimately, I think the solution might have to come from the legislatures. Different types of child pornography crimes need to be categorized to reflect those differences. Regardless, prosecutors should make better use of their discretion in such cases.

Comments

[Sex Offender Issues]

http://sexoffenderissues.blogspot.com/2007/12/child-sex-offenders.html

No I do not think young kids doing this, nor those experimenting with sex and just being kids, should be labeled a sex offender and potentially their lives ruined before they start. But, if they are able to be charged with a sex crime and labeled a child molester, then why not for producing and distributing child porn? Maybe when a lot of kids are caught up in this mess, then the legislature will see the mess they have created! Just look at the tons of articles at the link provided.

[eAdvocate]

While the ACLU filed suit in this county as cited, in another county of Pennsylvania the judge did the following:

GREENSBURG, Pa. -- Criminal cases against Greensburg Salem High School students who were caught "sexting" have been resolved in juvenile court.

All six students -- three boys and three girls -- were sentenced to curfews and community service, and they each got their cell phones back.

Charges of sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communication device were filed after the girls text-messaged the boys and sent their naked photos to the boys' phones.

School administrators called Greensburg police when they learned about the photos. For remainder of story see: http://sexoffenderresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/pa-greensburg-kids-get-phones-back.html

The story closes with this comment "Still, Bertani said there's no doubt that naked pictures of children are child pornography."

That makes one wonder if many of our parents who took naked pics of kids on rugs or in the bath, are really child pornographers by today's standard?

And, under the retroactive nature of the Adam Walsh Act, could they be prosecuted today, or at least required to register as sex offenders even though they have no sex crime conviction?

Hey mom and dad, hide those darn pictures...

[Dave]

Wait, so does that make me a victim of child pornographers and did each one of my ex-girlfriends harm me when, inevitably, my mother would show them pictures of me in the tub when I was no more than two years old?

[rodney]

"GREENSBURG, Pa. -- Criminal cases against Greensburg Salem High School students who were caught "sexting" have been resolved in juvenile court.

All six students -- three boys and three girls -- were sentenced to curfews and community service, and they each got their cell phones back."

guess what all six of these kids UNDER AWA will be required to be registered for a minimum of 5-10 years.

[Los Angeles Paralegal]

I confess . . . I used to run around the backyard swimming pool naked when I was three years old. Come and lock me up and throw away the key. Will the last free man in California please turn off the lights? The convicts need the energy.