When laws go wrong...

[Kytro]

Police blotter: Teens prosecuted for racy photos | CNET News.com

Combine unsupervised teenagers, digital cameras and e-mail, and, given sufficient time, you'll end up with risque photographs on a computer somewhere.

There's a problem with that: Technically, those images constitute child pornography. That's what 16-year-old Amber and 17-year-old Jeremy, her boyfriend, both residents of the Tallahassee, Fla., area, learned firsthand. (Court documents include only their initials, A.H. and J.G.W., so we're using these pseudonyms to make this story a little easier to read.)

This is an example of what happens when laws are badly implemented, sometimes I cannot believe the decisions to prosecute people. Police really need to use common sense at time.

[Dumpy Dooby]

I told my buddy about this and asked if he could guess where it happened. He guessed Florida.

[R-Type]

Originally Posted by Kytro

Police blotter: Teens prosecuted for racy photos | CNET News.com



This is an example of what happens when laws are badly implemented, sometimes I cannot believe the decisions to prosecute people. Police really need to use common sense at time.

Another sad example of too much power in too few places for too long. The problem is that no matter how specific the language is written, someone will find a way of 'interpreting' it to make some kind of social or moral statement. This is a prime example. The only way to prevent this sort of abuse is to limit the resources of enforcement entities so they are forced to prioritize their targets (eg crimes with bona fide victims).

[Diesel66]

that is the law everywhere. The only problem is when the age of consent is under 18. Then you run into the idiotic place where you can have sex with someone but not take their picture

[Kytro]

Originally Posted by Diesel66

that is the law everywhere. The only problem is when the age of consent is under 18. Then you run into the idiotic place where you can have sex with someone but not take their picture

Not only that, but you can't even take pictures of yourself.

[R-Type]

The real answer to this is to get rid of ALL child porn law and prosecute the abuse under existing assault law. After all, forcing a child to pose nude is no more offensive than forcing an adult to do so. I'm getting tired of politicians who jerk this chain to win elections, justifying 'special' laws with extreme punishments that make it look like they're 'doing something', which results in events like this. The fact these teens will be labeled sex offenders for life makes my blood boil. Ridiculous.

I also have problems with the existing law defining what a minor is. It seems to play favorites and set arbitrary barriers that are meaningless in human state-of-being. Apparently, a 16yo 'child' is incapable of handling sex play, but is perfectly able to understand the abstract ramifications of signing that civil service card, and handling a real full time job. When a 17yo 'child' is 18 and therefore 'not a child anymore,' suddenly his status switches from 'boyfriend' to 'predator.' When that 14yo 'child' commits murder, suddenly he's no longer a 'child' because the law can conditionally see fit to try him as an adult just to get a harsher punishment. Brilliant. So is he a child or not? The fact this crap varies by state and is purposefully muddied by parents and school systems just tells me it's really in place to discourage so-called 'vice' among teens. Yay for religion in government. The only reason these 'vice' activities aren't outright banned for teens is because politicians knew they couldn't get it passed. The result was this arbitrated mess which does nothing to determine when a child has reached 'adulthood,' if such boundaries even exist.