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?

[synapse]

Wouldn't the charges be brought on to the people who actually "own" said communication device, ie. The parents buy the computer for the kid, and buy the internet access from whoever. Shouldn't the parents be charged? Since they should be keeping an eye on their kids anyhow.

[*paperplane*]

Wouldn't the charges be brought on to the people who actually "own" said communication device, ie. The parents buy the computer for the kid, and buy the internet access from whoever. Shouldn't the parents be charged? Since they should be keeping an eye on their kids anyhow.

Because...it's not the fault of either one of them?