From thePHILADELPHIA INQUIRER:
A well-intentioned effort by Pennsylvania lawmakers to classify most instances of teens “sexting” as a ticketing or misdemeanor offense takes this controversy in the wrong direction – by criminalizing a misguided practice that has become an unfortunate part of adolescent behavior in the digital era.
When a federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled in March that an upstate district attorney could not prosecute a teen under the state child pornography laws, that should have been the end of any criminal-justice crackdown on teens sharing racy digital images of themselves.
As an immature practice – one that’s already showing signs of fading from fashion – the circulation of such photos by phone message and online is best dealt with as a disciplinary matter. And not by prosecutors, either, but by parents or, if it’s discovered in a classroom setting, by school officials using detention and the like…
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