If minors are selling smut but the photos and videos are of them, can they be charged or it?

They can be charged with possession as well as distribution of child pornography. Plenty of high school kids are ‘registered’ sex offenders because they sent nude pics of themselves to other students.

@FutureMemory is right. The law is the same in Australia. Sexting is a risky business and can lead kids into serious hot legal water.

So I guess actually burning DVDs after some edit and titles to try and make it a complete feature would surely get some of them in hot water, but would the law really see a 7yr old participant the same as an 11yr old participant, or would the onus land on the older kids because they are suppose to know better?

I think all participants in the incident would be the ones in trouble and if they found otherwise then it would’t be fair because regardless of age they still all came up with the idea and benefited from the sale of their porn. This is why you need to watch your kids with computers these days, because they can really ruin their lives at such a young age. It can even get them killed if your not a parent who oversees them. You also need to instill your values in them so they know all of this is wrong.

Am I the only one that misses the old days when such things weren’t an issue?

I think that this raises a lot of valid questions about our society, and how we view youth. On the one hand, we don’t consider a person responsible enough to be trusted with alcohol until they are 21 yet they can sign legally- binding contracts and die for their country at 18. On the other hand, most parents are too busy to actually spend much time/effort supervising and teaching their kids, thus forcing them to grow up on their own, which they do by watching the world around them and trying to emulate that.

We really have no clear concept on how age and maturity are related. We have adults acting like teenagers, grade-schoolers trying to act adult (and expected to in many ways), and thus no real, solid framework on which to base a decision in a case like this.

Regardless, the IRS will get their cut though :D

Child pornographers are the most dangerous deviants in society. There are no extenuating circumstances; all of them should be executed.

@ratboy So, you favor executing children, eh?

See, the trouble here is that most people see the words “child pornography” and then they stop thinking. They just want to kill people, even if those people are themselves children, the very group that they wish to protect!

So thank you for showing that there are certain issues that cannot be discussed rationally in our society, how impulsively punitive we are, and why we live in such a screwed up world in the first place.

@jerv Am I the only one that misses the old days when such things weren’t an issue? Sorry to tell you, that ship has sailed a long time ago.

On the other hand, most parents are too busy to actually spend much time/effort supervising and teaching their kids, thus forcing them to grow up on their own, which they do by watching the world around them and trying to emulate that.
There is a lot of truth and iron to what you said, many would not want to acknowledge it. That would mean having someone in the house most of the time to watch after the kids. I know the ideal situations for that to happen are much harder than they were 4 decades ago and greater but many will just use that as a cop out or excuse for why it is not being done and can’t be. When I was kid there was always at least three mothers in the neighborhood home. And they knew and trusted each other well enough that if they seen us kids doing something really stupid, cruel, or dangerous, they had no compunction of taking a broom handle and scattering us to the four winds. My mother was not going to question Mrs. Whoever for swatted me on the back side with a broom handle, she want to know what did I do that made her have to. Today that wouldn’t happen because everyone’s child is an angel, and even if they were playing with fire next to an acetylene gas don’t you dare swat them away from it if they won’t budge, just have 911 on speed dial.

We have adults acting like teenagers, grade-schoolers trying to act adult (and expected to in many ways), and thus no real, solid framework on which to base a decision in a case like this. When it comes to sex do they really have a clear ideal? Sex is billed as the circus, the amusement, and a trip down the rapids all rolled into one. It is the goal of everyone and is better than a 200mph loopy loop rollercoaster, but only for those who are attractive and cool. If you don’t have a ticket to ride is because you are an ugly geek. Sex is just a commodity, virginity useless, just a badge of unattractive geekness, who wants that? You don’t have to be married or even love the person you are boinking, it is all for good recreation and fun. Having kids get ideals from Martin Sheen’s character on Two And A Half Men, Sex In The City, “Sam Malone” of Cheers and no wonder they have a hard time grasping.

I think the issue this raises is not so much about society as it is about the legal system. Society always has been, and always will be, irrational. The groups involved are too large to be controlled without hard and fast rules. But there are exceptions to every rule, so every rule harms some innocent. Yet society runs on the principle that it is more important to protect the majority of people than to be fair to any one person or any one case individually. The legal system is even worse, as it attempts to protect all people with one standard in the easiest way possible. Create one rule for all, judge all people as if they and their circumstances are the same. Rules are so easy to formulate, and so easy to justify. They protect us, supposedly. One more rule is one more protection and the politicians and lawyers scramble on, pleased at their good deeds. With every new law, things get more and more complicated and less and less individualized. If some innocents fall under the tracks of the law, well, it’s all for the greater good.

Yes! And do serious time and suffer life long consequences, i.e., “sex offender registration” requirements. A number of “sexting” cases have been brought and successfully prosecuted. See Sentencing Law and Policy web site for particular cases.

@throssog For teens, maybe, but for those under 10, I have my doubts. You realize that such thinking will lead to over 90% of Americans having some form of criminal record, right? Four year old Timmy takes a candy bar; twenty years later, after he has matured enough and learned about things like cashiers, he is still paying for it?!

Ah, how I do wish such concerns as you voice were of some weight with the Prosecutors and Judges. Again, so it will not be thought that I a making it up: go to
http://sentencing.typepad.com/
and take a peek at some of the cases being made and the sentences being awarded. Age doesn’t seem to matter. As Captain Red-Legs most famously said: “There ain’t no end to doing right!”

@throssog Yes! And do serious time and suffer life long consequences, i.e., “sex offender registration” requirements. A number of “sexting” cases have been brought and successfully prosecuted. Isn’t it more of a societal problem than a legal one? Sexting did not even exist when I was a kid, and even if we could have use Poloroids no one would have even thought of snapping naked photos of themselves to share with any other kids not even a girl you liked. For the longest the world has been out ”If your gymnastic, little league, pop warner, etc, coach takes naked or semi naked pictures of you, that is wrong” but nothing is said ”you can’t take and share naked pictures of yourself with anyone”. When it comes to kids and sex, the laws is quite nebulous. They know sex with an adult gets the adult in trouble but they are safe. So since they are safe having sex as long as they are under 18, or over 18 and having sex with only those over 18 they can’t get into trouble. It is like a de facto nod of agreement that two kids under 18 can boink like bunnies, that it is all good, just kids growing up exploring their bodies. Sending naked pic through a phone is no big deal to them, because other kids seeing them naked had lost its steam. There use to be kids who would avoid gym class because they had to shower with the same sex who has just what they have, no cameras to make the moment live forever. It is the technology that created the action

@Hypocrisy_Central Let us not forget that the law doesn’t keep up with technology well at all, and barely adapts to the changes of time.

@throssog I don’t recall accusing you of making stuff up, or even thinking of doing so. I am well aware of how screwed up the legal system is. Added to other current events, I am increasingly convinced that our government is inept almost to the point of malice.

My dear friend Hypocrisy Central, I wasn’t accusing you of saying I was making things up – merely a rhetorical device. Of no import at all. Do , please, forgive me if it seemed I gave that impression.