In Massachusetts, there are law enforcement officials who think that criminal punishment a a reasonable thing to to as a deterrent to teen sexting.
According to the Boston Globe (via True/Slant), local police and prosecutors are investigating and considering child pornography charges in this a sexting incident at a local middle school.
Most people would call this “criminalizing bad behavior”. Is sexting a good idea? Of course not. But who is served by ruining a teenager’s life for something stupid? We can understand that there is a huge difference between adults peddling nude pictures of children, and young teenagers foolishly forwarding pictures sent to them.
Massachusetts, like most other states, needs to reform it’s child pornography laws to account for this kind of bad, but understandable teen behavior. Juvenile courts and education programs should be the only law enforcement involvement in this cases, not felony charges and sex offender registry for life, which appears to be the only possible punishment under Massachusetts laws as currently written.
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