Florida Legalizes Teen Sexting By Trying To Outlaw Teen Sexting
from the breaking-something-that's-fixing-something-that-ain't-broken dept
When laws intersect with human sexuality, they usually do so badly. Teens are sexting -- something many people believe is normal, but many, many more people believe is somehow wrong. This sort of behavior has existed since the introduction of the Polaroid camera, but with nearly every teen in possession of both a camera and a transmission device, the trading of sexually explicit photos has increased exponentially.Sure, some sexting leads to bullying or the uninvited sharing of supposedly "private" photos, but for the most part, it seems to be consensual behavior. The Problem That (Mostly) Isn't is usually tackled by criminalizing the behavior. What law enforcement and legislators fail to understand is that criminalizing normal human behavior just creates more criminals, rather than curbing the undesired behavior.
One "solution" has been to twist sexual offense laws into incredibly abnormal shapes to fit this "crime." If Teen Boy Doe takes a photo of his own genitalia and sends it to a willing recipient, he's just created and distributed child pornography. Anyone who receives it is now in possession of child pornography. Everyone involved now has a chance to kiss their futures goodbye by taking a trip to the sexual offender registry. Turning a child into his or her own pornographer boggles the mind, and yet, some feel this is a perfectly acceptable response.
The other "fix" is legislation. Armed with more good intentions than functioning brain cells (and backed by parents who feel the government is better equipped to raise their children), legislators craft specific laws to criminalize normal human behavior. It's only slightly better than the first option, in that it usually doesn't result in people being accused of producing their own child pornography, directed by and starring themselves. But it still doesn't fix the "problem," and it still results in criminal records for minors who haven't really done anything criminal.
If you're Florida -- the United States' mentally unstable, pill-addled uncle -- you fuck it up completely. (via Reason)
Here’s the sorry story of the state’s latest legal mishap: In 2011, the legislature passed a “sexting” statute barring minors from sending images of nudity (their own or somebody else’s) to other minors. The first offense would qualify as only a civil infraction; minors who violated the law would merely have to perform court-ordered community service or pay a $60 fine. The second and third offenses, however, would qualify as misdemeanors, while the fourth offense would qualify as a felony.While Florida legislators congratulated each other on their savvy solution -- one that would deter sexting without overcriminalizing it -- they failed to notice a glaring loophole in the newly-minted law. This didn't become apparent until the state tried to enforce it by using it against a student who took a vagina selfie (out of "boredom") and sent it to others.
Florida law doesn’t give any court jurisdiction of civil infractions by juveniles—as opposed to criminal infractions—and the sexting statute doesn’t grant any court this kind of jurisdiction. Accordingly, no court in the state currently has legal authority to hear a case involving minors sexting.So, if the first infraction is always a civil matter -- and the courts can't touch a civil case involving a juvenile -- this means no juvenile can ever be prosecuted under Florida's anti-sexting law. It's the law that isn't, which indicates it really shouldn't have been written in the first place.
[B]ecause that first offense is a civil infraction—and because no court can hear civil cases involving minors—it is legally impossible for any minor to be charged with that first offense. As a result, there simply cannot be a second, third, or fourth offense. Sexting between teens—even sexting images of a minor’s nude body—is now functionally legal in Florida.No doubt legislators are now rushing back to their DoSomethingmobiles to "fix" a law that shouldn't have been enacted in the first place. And whatever they slap into place with the glue of good intentions and old-fashioned moral panic will likely be worse than this inadvertent legalization of teen sexting.
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And it can't be penalized, avoiding most of the damage of the law.
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It's no surprise that some of it escapes on to the web but punishing children for 'pedophilia' aka 'sextexting' does nothing but ruin lives.
Can you imagin applying for a job or moving into new neighborhood and being required by law to notify people that when you were 15 that you got busted for sexting?
Our system of law is fucked!
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We don't need to dilute the term "sex offender". We need to make sure that the term only applies to those who actually commit or support sexual assault or sexual abuse. I have no problem with rapists, child molesters, and traders in kiddie porn having the label sex offender. I'd have no problem with branding them with a large "R" on their foreheads. They're scum.
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you are mistaken
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Leave the law as is. Let's be honest, we all did stupid stuff as a teen, but now it can stick around and be spread even years later.
the Florida law makers have done something genius. they have make something illegal, but also ensured that no one can ever be prosecuted for it. that way parents and educators can scare kids into not doing something stupid, but at the same time, when the kids do it any way, their life can't be ruined.
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Lets get to the root of the problem
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100% of crimes are a direct result of Heterosexual sex! Ban heterosexual sex and we end all crime!
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"If kids are so innocent, why is everything bad named after them? Acting childish, kidnapping, child abuse"
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Fuck
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To each his own
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Sexting between minors
As it should be.
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Separation of power
The legislature writes the laws and lets the police figure out how to enforce it, and they both let the court figure out if the law is even legal or enforceable.
It would be nice if the legislature tried to pass enforceable, good laws in the first place, but that would be too hard compared to "doing something" about an issue.
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How's that again?
ANY civil infraction??? (not just 'sexting')
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Re: How's that again?
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So...
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Most of the Western World (E.g. Australia, The UK, etc.) classifies lolicon (drawings) as "child pornography," which is an incredibly asinine thing to do.
There was one doujin I viewed which featured a character who was probably about ten to 12 - taking a photo of "herself" masturbating, and uploading it to some kind of social networking site.
Now, considering the fact we ruin young adults lives for uploding naked selfies of themselves, would this mean that the authorities would have to try and charge the drawing with manufacturing and distributing "child pornography?"
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Sounds like amateurs writing laws
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Florida law against texting
This was the first time in history that the capital authority over a father's son was taken from the father and distributed to include the mother and the execution was to be by the community.
According to tradition, there is no way for the two parents to speak in "one voice" so that the conditions of the punishment can never and have never been met.
So in creating a law that can never be executed, it actually made it illegal for the first time in history for a parent to legally kill their child.
There is also the supreme court case of Marbury v. Madison (1803) in which the court struck down a law giving them power to appoint lower court judges. Congress tried to give them that appointive power but in ruling against it, the court gave themselves the much greater power to rule on the constitutionality of laws.
We can't ascribe internality to a group decision, but it sometimes shows greater wisdom than the people making the laws.
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Teens
That sounds like a great idea, because if there's one thing I know about teens, it's that they always want to follow the rules and do what authority figures tell them to.
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Great Law
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Murder by Barack Obama
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sexting -
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