Charging Minors with Child Porn Options

[Comptine]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28679588/

There have been a lot of cases of police arresting and charging teenagers/minors with possession and distribution of child pornography because they've been sending racy pictures through their phones. Authorities argue these measures are done to send a message. They are protecting kids from further harming themselves by risking their pictures getting put on the internet. So a 14 year old girl who sends her boyfriend a naked picture of herself could get arrested and charged for distributing child porn.

However, once charged, these kids have to register as a sex offender, in some places for as long as ten years. Which means, that 14 year old girl will find it a lot harder to apply for jobs and college all because she sent a photo of herself to her boyfriend and got lumped into the same category as a child molester.

Thoughts?

[*paperplane*]

Yeah, I heard about this a while ago and I think the charges are absolutely wrong. They could not be much less deserving of having to register as a sex offender. It's not even just about the jobs; it's incredibly hard to live outside of jail as a sex offender. Georgia may have particularly strict laws where this is concerned, but here they are prohibited from living near bus stops, schools, churches, parks, and anywhere children may gather. This makes going to the mall illegal. I don't know how it would work if the sex offender is a minor; are they not allowed to be around themselves or anyone their own age? Prosecuting the kids may prevent others from following their example, but the punishment is certainly not for their own benefit, which the criminal justice system is supposed to be geared more towards where there are minors involved. Not to mention this is denying them the rights to their own bodies.