[karajorma]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/07/in-sexting-case-virginia-prosecutors-want-to-photo-teens-genitalia/

A Virginia teen is facing felony charges for allegedly sexting his girlfriend a video of his penis, and the authorities want to photograph his erect genitalia to bolster their case, according to news reports.

If found guilty, the 17-year-old boy, whose name Ars is withholding, could be jailed until his 21st birthday and be forced to register as a sex offender.

The boy's attorney said that Prince William County prosecutors have obtained a warrant allowing them to photograph the boy's erect private parts, a development his attorney is fighting along with the accusations.

"The prosecutor's job is to seek justice,” the teen's lawyer, Jessica Harbeson Foster, told The Washington Post. “What is just about this? How does this advance the interest of the Commonwealth? This is a 17-year-old who goes to school every day, plays football, has never been in trouble with the law before. Now he’s saddled with two felonies and the implication that he’s a sexual predator. I don’t mind trying the case. My goal is to stop the search warrant. I don’t want him to go through that. Taking him down to the hospital so he can get an erection in front of all those cops, that’s traumatizing.”

Neither Foster nor Prince William County prosecutors immediately commented.

The boy is accused of distributing and manufacturing pornography and texting a video of it in January to his then-girlfriend, 15. Local broadcasts said a county judge signed off on the warrant Thursday to photograph the boy. A court hearing is set for next week.

"I think it’s effectively child abuse. That’s what it is from my perspective,” Carlos Flores Laboy, the boy's guardian, told NBC.

BTW the charge they have him up for is for making and distributing child porn. Funnily enough they apparently already have taken pictures of his dick but they weren't good enough and they want more.

[MP-Ryan]

The whole situation is beyond ludicrous.

[Dragon]

It's one thing to persecute adults for pedophilia, and it's another to persecute children for being attracted to people their age. The authorities still can't grasp the simple fact that kids do have sexual desires, too, and in many cases are fully aware of what they're doing. I hope the judge sees reason, most laws concerning sexuality in general are woefully behind the times. That's just a single case of what those laws can lead to, made worse by punishment for sexual crimes being very harsh (which is good when we're talking an actual crime).

[Grizzly]

I have two questions about this:

A Virginia teen is facing felony charges for allegedly sexting his girlfriend a video of his penis

How does one actually find out about stuff like this?

The boy's attorney said that Prince William County prosecutors have obtained a warrant allowing them to photograph the boy's erect private parts,

How is this even allowed 0_o.

[Beskargam]

This is bull****

[MP-Ryan]

I have two questions about this:

A Virginia teen is facing felony charges for allegedly sexting his girlfriend a video of his penis

How does one actually find out about stuff like this?

Another source indicates she was sending him naughty photos of herself, and he reciprocated... then her mom found out and called the cops.

The boy's attorney said that Prince William County prosecutors have obtained a warrant allowing them to photograph the boy's erect private parts,

How is this even allowed 0_o.

Welcome to the USA.  The Constitution may say you have rights, but the local prosecutor and police didn't read it when they got hired.

[MP-Ryan]

Well, that was q uick reaction.  Guess the prosecutor/police DO read the news: http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/10/update-virginia-cops-abandon-plan-to-coe

[BloodEagle]

Now for someone to put them in jail for conspiracy.

[666maslo666]

The fact that a kid is being charged with child pornography for harmless sexting should be the main issue here and it is much worse travesty of justice than taking a photo of erection. These laws are utterly ridicoulous.

[Flipside]

It's kind of ironic really that, as a 17 year old photographing your penis and sending that picture to your girlfriend is now legally worse than actually just getting it out in front of her and waving it around... And, of course, if that's caught on a CCTV somewhere, then where does that go legally?

As for wanting to photograph his penis to show to everyone in court, when he only sent the picture to his girlfriend, that seems to me to be more a case of the court enabling pedophilia, not dealing with it....

[Dragon]

Yeah. It's a whole bunch of particularly silly laws, also including things as very young actors not being able to watch movies with their own nude scenes (movie is 18+, but the actress is 17...) and similar stuff. In this case, I think that actually showing his penis to his girlfriend could've qualified as straight-out pedophilia (she was 15, remember), but in general, this is an area in which law has a long history of being a complete and utter failure.

Well, that was q uick reaction.  Guess the prosecutor/police DO read the news: http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/10/update-virginia-cops-abandon-plan-to-coe

Well, they realized just how sick and wrong the original plan was... Now to realize that this whole case is sick and wrong, drop it, then change the bloody law. I wonder who even thought that charging children like this is a good idea?

[Mongoose]

In most cases, children being charged for self-made child pornography are an unfortunate side-effect of the way the laws were originally written, not an actual intent of them.  These laws came into being waaaay before sexting was ever a thing, and they just haven't been properly updated to adapt to modern trends.  This particular case goes beyond antiquated laws into full-blown insanity, though.

[Scotty]

Yeah. It's a whole bunch of particularly silly laws, also including things as very young actors not being able to watch movies with their own nude scenes (movie is 18+, but the actress is 17...) and similar stuff. In this case, I think that actually showing his penis to his girlfriend could've qualified as straight-out pedophilia (she was 15, remember), but in general, this is an area in which law has a long history of being a complete and utter failure.

Well, that was q uick reaction.  Guess the prosecutor/police DO read the news: http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/10/update-virginia-cops-abandon-plan-to-coe

Well, they realized just how sick and wrong the original plan was... Now to realize that this whole case is sick and wrong, drop it, then change the bloody law. I wonder who even thought that charging children like this is a good idea?

You think that two years age difference is enough to call it pedophilia?  He's a minor too, which makes it particularly absurd.  God forbid teenagers **** each other.

[BrotherBryon]

That's my state for ya, not long ago they forced trans-vaginal ultrasounds on any one seeking an abortion and now this. Personal opinion: the kid should be tried for indecent exposure or something similar at most not full on kiddie porn. I understand that sexting is becoming a problem with young people and there are those who want steps taken to stop it but this isn't the way to go about it. Now if the boy was distributing the pictures his girlfriend sent him to others that would be different.

[karajorma]

Personal opinion: the kid should be tried for indecent exposure or something similar at most not full on kiddie porn.

Why just the guy? Given that the story does seem to suggest his girlfriend who was also underage had been sending pictures too.


The boy shouldn't be prosecuted at all. Neither should the girl. Taking a picture of yourself is NEVER production of child porn. It makes as much sense as prosecuting someone for attempted murder because of a failed suicide attempt.

In the (almost certainly much rarer) cases of someone doing it under duress, the person taking the picture still isn't a criminal. If anything they are the victim.

[AdmiralRalwood]

It makes as much sense as prosecuting someone for attempted murder because of a failed suicide attempt.

Instead, we just prosecute them for attempted suicide.

[Bobboau]

Taking a picture of yourself is NEVER production of child porn.

I don't actually disagree with you in any meaningful way. BUT... when one uses the word 'never', especially emphatically I wonder if they really have considered the full implications of the absoluteness of their declaration.
For instance, what if, at the age of 12 years old, someone takes a bunch of naked pictures/vids of them selves (maybe engaged in various activities, perhaps some of which involve inserting things in to assorted orifices.) and then sells said pics/vids online. I do not think that is really that far fetched a scenario, I'm pretty sure it would not be unreasonable for there to exist some kids as young as 8 who were able to figure out paypal and figure out how to work a camera and how to send email attachments so 12 seems a safe bet. and I am not making any proposals as to how the situation should be dealt with (any direction we go in this seems suboptimal), but I think the label "child porn" would not be entirely inaccurate of the end result material, and the hypothetical kid did produce and distribute it.

[Scotty]

My post was in poor taste.

EDITED because apparently even my edit wasn't that clear.

[Bobboau]

dude, really?
[edit]oh, you edited your post[/edit]
[second-edit]I was just tagging my original response as pertaining to something that wasn't there anymore, not making an accusation[/second-edit]

[Aardwolf]

I wish the Internet (and Government) would learn to stop calling it "child-" or "pedo-" when the people involved are past puberty.



Why do I have a feeling I need to be very careful how I phrase this in order to avoid a great deal of undue beratement?
But now you will say I'm being passive aggressive. I can't win.



Proposition:

If, when I was a teenager, other teenagers were good-looking, it was not because they were the same age as me, but because that's the time in our biological development when people are the most good-looking.

Reasonable y/n?