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Two North Carolina Teens Hit with Child Porn Charges After Consensual Sexting

posted by martyb on Saturday September 05 2015, @12:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the sense-no-makes dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Later this month, a North Carolina high school student will appear in a state court and face five child pornography-related charges for engaging in consensual sexting with his girlfriend.

What's strange is that of the five charges he faces, four of them are for taking and possessing nude photos of himself on his own phone—the final charge is for possessing one nude photo his girlfriend took for him. There is no evidence of coercion or further distribution of the images anywhere beyond the two teenagers' phones.

Similarly, the young woman was originally charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor—but was listed on her warrant for arrest as both perpetrator and victim. The case illustrates a bizarre legal quandry that has resulted in state law being far behind technology and unable to distinguish between predatory child pornography and innocent (if ill-advised) behavior of teenagers.

The boy is being charged with child pornography for taking pictures of himself.

[These teens were of the age of consent in North Carolina and could legally have had sex with each other. Juvenile court jurisdiction ends at age 16 in North Carolina, however, so they are being tried as adults on felony charges of possessing child porn... of themselves. -Ed.]

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  • (Score: 2) by mtrycz on Saturday September 05 2015, @08:24PM

    by mtrycz (60) on Saturday September 05 2015, @08:24PM (#232724)

    Skimmed TFA, but can't find it. Who sued them? Who came into possesion of these images, or got to know of their existece? Why did this ever came to light?

    I'd prefer my communications to remain mine (and the other person's, obv), there is something seriously amiss here.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by juggs on Saturday September 05 2015, @10:18PM

    by juggs (63) on Saturday September 05 2015, @10:18PM (#232764) Journal

    From my reading elsewhere, the police where examining the boy's 'phone (with his permission) in relation to another criminal investigation (in which he was neither victim nor alleged perpetrator) - they came across these photos during that examination.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @11:32PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 05 2015, @11:32PM (#232794)

      the police where examining the boy's 'phone (with his permission) in relation to another criminal investigation (in which he was neither victim nor alleged perpetrator) - they came across these photos during that examination.

      So why aren't they being charged with possession of child pornography? They possessed the photos of nude individuals under the age of 18, therefore they are criminals. That's the law, police should not be above it.