Friday, April 28, 2017

Massachusetts governor proposes bill protecting teen sexters from felony charges...

The Massachusetts state legislature will consider a bill that protects teen sexters from excessive prosecution while imposing harsher punishments on people who share nude photos with others without the subject’s consent. Filed by Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday, the bill would prevent prosecutors from charging teen sexters as child pornographers, recommending that they be sent to an educational program instead of prison or juvenile detention.

Current Massachusetts law allows minors caught with an underage peer’s naked photo to be charged with possession of child pornography; those who send their own naked photos to a lover could be charged with distribution. “These felony offenses are too severe a sanction for conduct that, while covered by the respective statutes, is not what lawmakers had in mind when they outlawed child pornography,” Baker wrote in a letter announcing the bill. “District attorneys and the attorney general will retain prosecutorial discretion to use the juvenile justice process in appropriate cases, but the default should be diversion rather than prosecution.”

In cases that prosecutors deem too serious for just a diversion program, Baker’s bill offers the option of a misdemeanor charge, which wouldn’t classify the minor as a “sex offender,” instead of a felony. It would also establish a requirement for schools to teach students about sexting in the context of “cyberbullying,” focusing on the effects of “harmful distribution” of sexual images, rather than the more innocuous, consensual sharing of sexts between lovers or flirtatious friends. Full story...

Related posts:
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  2. Children as young as SIX quizzed by police over 'sexting'
  3. Children as young as 11 are sending naked selfies as part of "sexually toxic environment"
  4. Swiss youth group warns of ‘sexting’ dangers...
  5. Girl sends nude photo of herself, gets kicked out of school: lacross players...
  6. Call to highlight the dangers of 'sexting' for teens...
  7. No such thing as safe "sexting", Aussie teens warned...
  8. Teen 'sexting' craze leading to child porn arrests in US...

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