Three Middle School Students Facing Criminal "Sexting" Charges

I found this story on KTLA News.

This story is about 3 middle school kids who could be facing sex offender charges. There are being charged with “sexting” which is sending naked or half naked pictures of yourself to someone else who is under the age of 18. Paula Kniestedt’s 13 year old daughter is one of the 3 Middle School kids being charged with this; her daughter had a picture of herself that she sent to a boyfriend who, after a breakup, sent it to other kids in their school. Paula said about her daughter in the article, “This could ruin everything for her. This could ruin her whole life.” Paula also thinks what her daughter did was wrong, but believes there are more people who should be in trouble for passing the picture along as well. Pepper Schwatz, a sociology professor at the University of Washington, said, “If you send something out into cyber space you can never pull it back. You cannot control where it goes and it could come to haunt you literally forever.” Paula said, “I think it does need to be out there that parents need to be a little more particular about what their kids are doing with their internet and their phones.” The report also mentioned a girl from Ohio who was 18 years old, hung herself after dealing with this same situation. States such as Utah and Vermont are now looking at lessening the punishment for the “sexting” crimes.

My first reaction to this is how horrible this is from both points of view. I cannot imagine having my kids in trouble for this, and I also couldn’t imagine my son/daughter having a sex offender charge against them. They would have to register every time they move, or even when they try to get a job. This would be a terrible thing to deal with, let alone think about. No parent wants this for their child.

This is one subject I am very passionate about. I hate this so much; everything about this. First off, kids in middle school are way too young to even be thinking about this type of stuff. They should be worried about school and friends and clothes or sports. They shouldn’t even be thinking about sex in any way at this point in their lives; I know I wasn’t. Second of all, the punishment for these kids to carry a sex offender charge over their heads for the rest of their lives is the worst possible thing they could do to these kids. I cannot even believe this is being allowed. I understand these kids should not have done this, but they shouldn’t be charged with child pornography, that is absurd. This would be like someone who stole something getting the death penalty. It is probably embarrassing enough to have a naked picture of this girl passed around to the kids she has to see every day at school. I couldn’t imagine something like that, especially at such a young age. These kids need to be closer with their parents, and parents need to be closer with their kids. Parents need to know what’s going on in their kids’ lives, and be open and honest enough for their kids to know right from wrong. I don’t agree with this story, nor do I support it in any way.