Enough With The Insanity Over 'Sexting'
Written by Brian Garst, Posted in The Courts, Criminal Justice & Tort
A PA court might finally put a halt to some of the hysterical overreactions of adults to children being children.
A federal appeals court must decide whether “sexting” by three Pennsylvania teens amounts to child pornography or is a free-speech right.
A three-judge panel in Philadelphia is hearing arguments Friday in a case between a county prosecutor and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The prosecutor is threatening to file child-pornography charges against three girls after racy cell-phone images of them circulated through their high school. The photos show one girl topless and the others in bras.
The ACLU says the case is the first in the nation to challenge whether prosecutors can file child-pornography charges in “sexting” cases. It argues that harmless photos shouldn’t be criminalized.
Out of control prosecutors all across the country have been ruining the lives of children under the guise of protecting them from themselves. In their fanatical, prosecutorial zeal, they seek to turn innocent mistakes into child pornography convictions that will forever label young boys and girls as predators, all for an activity that has no victim except (arguably) themselves.
This foolishness must stop. Can you imagine if, before computers and cameras, kids were arrested for playing “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” That’s how insane this is. Let’s hope the Pennsylvania court can inject a little sense into this entirely nonsensical behavior on the part of adults that should know better.
I serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.