Last month, police seized a number of cell phones from Guthrie High School students after receiving reports of child pornography being distributed among students. In that case, students were reportedly sharing a video of two other students involved in sexual activity.
The case serves as a reminder for teens and their parents that "sexting," or sending sexually explicit images or videos of oneself or other minors can lead to criminal charges. While Oklahoma has a sexting law that allows minors to be charged with a misdemeanor rather than a felony child pornography charge under most circumstances, there are still conditions under which a minor sharing sexually explicit images of another minor could be charged with a more serious offense.
A case in Novia Scotia, Canada, demonstrates just how serious child pornography allegations can be for teens. A 15-year-old girl was arrested last week on charges of producing, possessing, and distributing child pornography after police received information that the teen had been sharing sexually explicit images on social media for more than a month.
Police have not said whether or not the case involved the girl sending images of herself or others, but some reports cite Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cpl. Jennifer Clarke as saying there is more than one victim. Clarke says, "We don't feel that this is motivated in a malicious sort of way," but admits that it is "fairly unusual" for a teen to face these kinds of charges.
In a press release, Clarke continues:
"We need to ensure they understand the gravity of their actions and the consequences associated to their online behaviour. Once a digital image is created, it is impossible to know what will happen when it goes out into the world and it may never be deleted."
She says it is important for teens to understand that "there are real consequences, like real-life consequences to their actions."
Under United States federal law, and as such, under Oklahoma law, child pornography involves sexually explicit, nude, or partially nude images of minors under the age of 18. It is important for teens to understand that, although they may be of age to provide legal consent to sex, they do not have the legal capacity to consent to appearing in sexually explicit images or videos--even if they take the image of themselves.
A teen in Oklahoma would likely face a misdemeanor charge and pay a fine for sexting an image of himself or herself, but more serious charges may apply if the teen shares a sexually explicit image of another minor, especially if the minor is a young child or if the image was taken or shared without consent.
For more information visit our page on sex crimes /sex-crimes
Image Credit: Hillary
