Other views: ‘Sexting’ creates challenge for laws, leaders

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Sexting is a serious topic that’s gaining national attention. A member of the Dakota Wesleyan University faculty is doing his part to raise awareness even more.

Jesse Weins, a Dakota Wesleyan University assistant professor, says state laws are not keeping up with the realities of sexting, which is the act of sending sexually explicit texts, particularly photos or videos, via cell phones.

Whereas sexting takes place between people of all ages, evidence shows that teens are especially involved. According to a national survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, approximately 20 percent of teens have participated in some form of sexting.

Where sexting gets especially tangled is in how it is prosecuted. When sexting involves photos of children — even teens — sexting can run akin to possessing or distributing child pornography. For instance, CBS News reported last month that three teen girls from Pennsylvania and three male classmates all faced child pornography charges after the girls allegedly sent nude or seminude photos of themselves to the three boys.

Weins, chairman of the Department of Criminal Justice at DWU, says state laws aren’t keeping up with the realities of electronic messaging. He said teens run the risk of being victimized by poorly drawn statutes.

He and a colleague from Kansas are addressing this topic in a soon-to-be-published article in the Tennessee Law Review, a respected national law journal.

The two contend that kids aren’t aware of the consequences of sexting and that they sometimes are prosecuted rigorously by overzealous prosecutors.

Weins proposes creating a base misdemeanor charge for sexting, but also leaving room for aggravating circumstances. The idea of the paper he and Todd Hiestand, assistant professor of criminal justice at MidAmerica Nazarene University, wrote is to give states a bit of guidance to follow when dealing with sexting.

It’s a good idea.

Sexting certainly is a serious crime. But should a teen who makes a stupid choice — and sexting is a very stupid choice — be put in the same class as an adult convicted of a child pornography charge?

We don’t think so.

Weins argues that a legal response is both necessary and appropriate for sexting, but that response should take the form of a lesser juvenile charge, rather than the use of traditional child pornography statutes.

We agree.

Tags: other views, cell phone, opinion, editorials, texting, sexting, teens, youth