Teens sue prosecutor over racy cell-phone pics

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC/AP

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - Three Pennsylvania teenagers are suing a prosecutor who wants to charge them with child pornography over racy cell-phone pictures of themselves.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued Wednesday to block Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. from filing charges.

Two of the girls are 13-year-olds who were shown in their bras and say they were having innocent fun when a friend took their photo. Another picture shows a 16-year-old girl with a towel around her waist.

The pictures somehow got distributed to classmates' cell phones, and the teens say they didn't consent to that. They also say the photos are protected speech, not pornography.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29879875/

---

I'm with the teens on this one since they are the ones who took the pics. Some of these DA's, cops and principals are getting overzealous.

[Zywiec]

1. How is being in a bra pornographic?

They should just say it's a bikini top.

This shit is unbelievable. Go ACLU!

[Downwinder]

6. When are they going to go after Corporate Ads and MSM? n/t

[timtom]

23. I was thinking about the old Coppertone billboards

and how they would be deemed child pornography today.

http://dbowman.com/photos/disney/gallery/gone-hollywood.php

[Zywiec]

29. That little girl was topless!! n/t

[nichomachus]

27. When it gives the prosecutor a woody.

[PA Democrat]

36. OMG. I got unsolicited pornography in the mail the other day!

Macy's sent out an ad on their bra and underwear sale!

:yoiks:

[depakid]

2. What's with Pennsylvania's war on kids?

What's the state trying to be, the Texas of the North East?

Because it's SURELY gaining that reputation.

[Metta]

15. Thugs dominate our state legislature.

You know the type. Hard hearted, mean spirited, soulless thugs who think they're invincible to the laws of karma.

[depakid]

18. They must permeate the justice system and the administrative agencies as well

One has the unfortunate feeling that all these recent stories are just the tip of the iceberg....

[Metta]

21. I agree it goes deeper than we know.

And so, we make our voices known as best we can.

[Freddie Stubbs]

46. Democrats have a majority in the State House

[pnwmom]

3. Talk about blaming the victim!

Someone shoots embarrassing pictures of them which end up being sent out on cell phones and it's their fault?

Ugh.

[mbperrin]

4. Who did the posing for the pics? No indications they were

involuntary, were there?

Course, here in west Texas, shots of 15 year olds having actual sex are being sent to kids' phones "somehow", so maybe they're a little behind the trend up there!

[pnwmom]

8. How do you know there was posing for pics?

And not just a couple of girls running around in their underwear, and a third one laughs and whips out her camera?

And even if they did strike a pose, that doesn't mean they expected the pictures would become public property.

We're talking about average impulsive 13 year olds here, not adults with fully developed brains (which doesn't happen till about age 25).

[mbperrin]

12. Oh, I'm sure the results were unintended. And since they're immature,

then reasoning is ineffective here. Their critical thinking is not up to it.

And yet, they're endangering themselves with this.

Typically, aversion is used to avoid bad behaviors until old enough for reasoning to work.

Or would you let 6 year olds just play in the street and see what happens next?

[pnwmom]

14. Would you have them prosecute 6 year olds for playing in the street?

The OP was about prosecuting these kids. That's what was nuts.

Obviously, parents are going to have to continually remind their kids of the dangers that are connected to the advances in technology, and exert what control they can. But prosecutors shouldn't have any part in this, unless it's to protect victims, not go after them.

[mbperrin]

28. If parents cannot protect them, others must. The dangerous behavior here is

the posting of content which then can go viral, landing in any pedophile's domain. These kids are so careless with their ID that it wouldn't be hard to find them.

The prosecution we're talking about is juvenile detention, not execution or "hard" time ;)

If that wakes them up to the idea that doing this is a bad idea, good enough. You've already admitted that they're not cognitive enough to understand the danger, so if we must sequester them in order to create an aversion to the behavior, we will.

Because after you pulled the 6 year old out of the street, you slammed them verbally or took some punitive action to try to prevent the behavior in the future, right?

[Leftist Agitator]

34. Wow, are you serious?

What's the danger? That a 13 year old might have a bit of embarrassment in the future because a pic of her scantily clad self is floating around the interwebs?

"The prosecution we're talking about is juvenile detention, not execution or "hard" time"

I can see that you've never been to a juvenile detention facility. They are NOT nice places. They're every bit as psychologically damaging as your so-called adult "hard time".

[pnwmom]

37. Unbelievable. n/t

[PA Democrat]

38. You have to be kidding me.

Do you have a CLUE as to the types of kids these girls would be exposed to in juvenile detention?

Attitudes like yours are who we have so many people in prison in this country. The answer is not always locking people up. If it were we would have the lowest crime rate in the whole world.

[mbperrin]

43. Do you have a clue as to how many sexual predators are out there?

And how vulnerable these young kids are to them?

Look, they've already admitted they have no control over the pics once they go viral.

And there are networks of these folks out there.

Or maybe we should just let them put inadvertent bait out there - when they end up dead, they won't have to worry about psychological damage, right?

Juvenile detention is not prison. You sign in in the morning and sign out in the afternoon. Your day is supervised and structured.

So please, the drama of being in the lockup is just unwarranted.

Of course, there are those who just let their kids throw a fit at the store, while standing over them sweetly and saying, darling you must stop this. I'm going to count to three...hundred...thousand....

Unfortunately, it's the kid who pays when they grow up to be an unlovable person, and others shun them. Just as it will be the kid who pays when a predator finds them after their photo comes their way.

I did mention the predators are unnatural, right? And therefore, they do things the rest of us don't?

Or maybe that's all just a myth....

[PA Democrat]

47. In PA, juvenile detention is NOT something you sign in and out of for the day.

My husband is a lawyer and has handled many juvenile cases, and I know for a fact that kids who are sentenced to juvenile detention are sent a residential facility. "Detention" means to be placed in custody. Many of those facilities are overcrowded and have serious problems with high rates of suicide and violence, including sexual violence. In about a third of the cases of sexual violence, the perpetrator was a member of the STAFF of the facility. Those are the facts not drama.

There are other ways to get the message across to these girls that they took a foolish and potentially dangerous risk. Exposing them to further risk by placing them in a juvenile detention center is not one of them.



http://www.feministing.com/archives/010068.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-chodroff/reforming-juvenile-injust_b_110538.html

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/05/america/NA-FEA-GEN-US-Juvenile-Detention.php?page=1

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/13006354/detail.html

[14thColony]

41. You're just instigating for the sheer fun of it, right.........? nt

[CoffeeCat]

5. What gets me is that cops will allow a real...

...child sex predator off easy--with probation. Yet, they'll go to the mattresses to
convict teenagers who took pictures of each other in bras?

Makes perfect sense. :eyes:

[Downwinder]

7. Seems to me that Law Enforcement are the predators. n/t

[depakid]

11. Not to mention judges and the hundreds upon hundreds more who are complicit with this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3798840&mesg_id=3799057

[nichomachus]

25. I think some of these cops get their rocks off

spending 12 hours a day pretending to be a teenage girl in chat rooms.

[AllentownJake]

9. Why are the headline always this shit in my home town

:shrug:

[baldguy]

10. Good.

The only pornographic thoughts are in the 45-yr old prosecutor's mind.

[Wizard777]

13. If they were pornographic pictures they should be charged. It doesn't sound like they were.

[Politicalboi]

16. This is another example of

Going overboard. They took the pictures nobody forced them to do it. Child pornography is not teens playing with their camera phones. Even if they were taking pictures of themselves naked. If it's not forced and they don't mind who cares. They're 16 they know better

[New Dawn]

17. 1, that is not even pornography. 2, they are not adults, so how can they be charged for that?!

[Thor_MN]

19. That's what zero tolerance gets you.

If every picture of a minor that can construed as racy is child pornography, then anyone who takes the photo is a child pornographer and anyone who passes it on is engaged in distribution of child pornography, even if it the minor in the picture.

[MetaTrope]

20. I'm sure law enforcement's only regret is that they weren't there with tasers to subdue the children

[norepubsin08]

22. I agree with the teens

ALL COPS AND PROSECUTORS ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF FUCKING NAZI'S who have been handed way too much power!!!!!

[marshall]

24. The mind reels at the notion of the "innocent fun" the girls were having.

And how these photos "somehow" got sent out. Did the phones do it themselves?

I wonder if these girls were set up by their so-called friends, much like the one who committed suicide when her boyfriend sent her nude photos all over the school.

This is a good step by the girls' lawyers. These girls need to have some kind of counseling.

[nichomachus]

26. No different than some of the stuff these kids post on MySpace etc.

They have no idea that once those pictures are out there, there is no way to get them back.

Adults have the same problem. I can't believe some of the stuff I've seen -- and it's making it's way into court cases.

[AlphaCentauri]

35. I don't know who could call exposing them selves "innocent fun"

It's a shame that teens are trying to act like the characters they watch on TV or to think that posing as erotic models will give them some respect and recognition.

[marshall]

48. In a few years they can make money off of what they're getting in trouble for now

Giving it away for free now, especially on the internet where it will live forever, will only devalue their stock in the "business" when they come of age and can legally ply their trade.

[AlphaCentauri]

49. That is if they don't get pregnant in their teen years

for many girls is a lot fun but at the end having a baby just keep them out of many future opportunities

[MissMillie]

30. camera phones for kids

I wouldn't get one for a teen... and I'd recommend to other parents to follow suit

[RamboLiberal]

31. Friends Hope Teen's Death Warns Others Against 'Sexting'

CINCINNATI - Friends of a teen who took her own life after a nude photo of her was sent around her school have come forward to discuss the events that led to the girl's suicide.

"She more like kept to herself, (and) would like hide in the bathroom and cry," said Lauren Taylor, who was best friends with Jessie Logan. "She'd always call me crying."

Logan was an 18-year-old senior at Sycamore High School when a nude picture she sent to her boyfriend was sent to hundreds of students at schools across the area.

Her grades plummeted, and she began skipping school or hiding out in the bathroom to avoid other students.

"They'd call her slut, a whore, a skank," Taylor said. "They'd say she that she was just trying to be a porn star."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29556412/

Maybe the charges should come if the original recipient distributes the photo without permission?

[Dr. Strange]

33. That's a somewhat different kind of case...

since Logan, at 18, was an adult. But it really does show the viral nature of this kind of activity.

I'm not a lawyer, but do you have to have permission to resend photos once they've been sent to you?

[Kixel]

39. I was just going to say...

Sexting is huge with teens right now. They have no understanding of what it means and can't understand the consequences. This is a very complex issue-these kids can seriously be putting themselves in harms way by taking these photos. The problem is I don't think prosecution will help. Many kids don't think through the results of their actions.

[Echo In Light]

32. I side w/the girls on this, but would be interesting to see responses had actual sex been involved

Because let's face it, plenty of those pics/videos are being taken and put out there.

[mbperrin]

44. Yes, it's the latest "thing" at the high school where I teach.

One 13 year old sent out photos of her having anal intercourse with her 22 year old "boyfriend." They were both shocked when he was arrested.....

[mainegreen]

40. Good lord, my species makes me ashamed.

Stupidity all around.

[14thColony]

42. Control, control, and control some more

Control women by teaching them to submit to control as children.

Control morality by imposing your own via the legal system.

Remember, when THEY talk about freedom, they mean the freedom to take away yours.

[gulfcoastliberal]

45. I wonder if the DA is trying to send them to a private jail?

Wonder if prosecutors are also in on the "pay per prisoner" action.

[mbperrin]

51. It's a counseling program after school.

District Attorney George Skumanik called for the girls to undergo five weeks of behaviour courses and take a drug test or face prosecution, according to a letter apparently sent to the teenagers' parents.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25249527-12335,00.html

But the picture somehow wound up on classmates' cell phones, and a prosecutor has threatened to charge Miller and Kelly with child pornography or open lewdness unless they participate in a five-week after-school program followed by probation.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gIHJhCJfVsImNszbPhStlN2xDbKQD9759MGO1

[paulsby]

50. it's not the cops and DA or principals. it's the legislature

the way they WROTE many child porn laws, what these kids are doing IS creating child pornography.

i'm not saying it's in the interest of justice to prosecute, but the law (at least in my jurisdiction) does NOT distinguish WHO creates the images of the underage person.

the laws vary from jurisdiction, to jurisdiction.

i had a case once involving nearly the exact same thing.

otoh, the prosecutor and i agreed it was not in the interest of justice to prosecute, but it WAS technically a violation.

the legislature needs to stop writing stupid, overbroad laws.

[Baclava]

52. I blame parents with unlimited calling plans for their 10 year olds.

We teach our children well.