This has probably been asked before, but I can’t search, so:
If an underage person posts lewd pictures of themself on the 'net, can they be charged as a child pornographer or being in possession of child porn? And if so would they have to register as a sex offender?
Thanks for the timely links. In the second one someone is quoted as saying:
Which I suppose makes sense, but this raises a question that would be IMHO-oriented (and if mods wish to move it there so be it) - doesn’t prosecuting children as such directly violate the ostensible reason for child pornography laws in the first place, i.e. protecting the children?
It became necessary to destroy the childhood in order to protect it.
Seriously, this seems like a massive lapse of prosecutorial discretion.
IMHO, it deters adult child pornographers from getting children to help.
Yes, so they should have some legal action taken against them to prevent that sort of case, but it seems to me that making someone register as a lifelong sex offender because of it isn’t the answer.
Of course, there are plenty of other problems associated with the sex laws in the US as well, so it’s not really all that surprising.
I wonder about the effect of victim impact statements in such a case.
When I hear about some of these cases I wonder if the prosecutor is trying to lob a softball to show how ridiculous the unintended consequences can be. It never seems to play out that way, though.
:eek: