14 January 2009

A prosecution too far (with apologies to Steven Ambrose)

So... we have a case in Greensburg PA, where 6 teens (3 boys, 3 girls) are charged with creating (or possessing) child pornography. Seems the girls took nude and semi-nude pics of themselves, and sent them to the boys.

Now, these kids get to have their lives ruined. All because a poorly worded law is being taken to it's lunatic extreme.

Reminds me of another case, where a teenage girl was busted for creating child porn: she had been taking pics of herself, and sending them out. Again: life ruined.

Folks, whenever a new law is proposed, THINK about the fullest extent it can be twisted to. Trust me: regardless of what is intended, someone is gonna run it all the way out to the edge.

H/T to Marko, who says it all far better than I can...

2 comments:

Sabra said...

Here's a radical thought: how about we address the issue of why these girls thought it was a good idea to send nekkid pix of themselves to boys? I'm a bit too old-school feminist to be down with teenage girls objectifying themselves. (And as the boys weren't sharing nudie pix, the inequality is fairly obvious.)

I guess it's easier to paper over the problem than to address it. Criminal prosecution isn't the answer here. I can't believe anyone thinks it is. If it was my daughters, we'd be having a good long talk about why they feel the need to entice boys in this fashion (especially at 14!)

Strings said...

Oh, I fully agree with you there, Sabra.