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The Florida State Senate has made the first steps in this legislative session to try again to decriminalize a first offense of sexting between teenagers.

According to Tampa Bay Online, if the bill passes, a first offense charge of sexting, or sending nude or explicit pictures via cellphone or computer, would result in a penalty or 8 hours of community service and a $60 fine. A second offense would be a misdemeanor criminal charge, which could result in up to a year in jail, and $1000 fine.

The bill is in response to a case from several years ago where a teen sent a nude picture of his girlfriend to several friends, and was charged with multiple counts of child pornography. He was ultimately sentenced to 5 years probation, and required registration as a sex offender.

That case sound more egregious that most, since he did actually send the picture to other people. Under most current state laws, you can be charged with a felony sex offense just for sexting, or receiving a photograph from a willing boyfriend/girlfriend, if that picture happens to be of a suggestive nature of an underage person.

Reforming these laws to catch up to the reality of teens behaving stupidness while in the presence of camera phone technology just makes sense. Few people honestly think these actions live up to the threat of adults exploiting children, and distributing child pornography, so the laws should be updated to reflect their proper intent and the actual threat to public safety.

Related posts:

1. No Movement on Ohio Sexting Laws Reform