Define Child Porn

[Trey of Diamonds]

Read the below article and tell us if this is an acurate use of the term Child Porn. I think the cops are going a bit too far in this case.

High Schoolers Accused Of Sending Naked Pictures To Each Other

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 – updated: 5:44 pm EST January 13, 2009
High Schoolers Accused Of Sending Naked Pictures To Each Other - News Story - WPXI Pittsburgh

GREENSBURG, Pa. -- Three teenage girls who allegedly sent nude or semi-nude cell phone pictures of themselves, and three male classmates in a Greensburg Salem High School who received them, are charged with child pornography.

Police said the girls are 14 or 15, and the boys charged with receiving the photos are 16 or 17. None are being identified because most criminal cases in Pennsylvania juvenile courts are not public.

"It was a self portrait taken of a juvenile female taking pictures of her body, nude," said Capt. George Seranko of the Greensburg Police Department.

Police said school officials learned of the photos in October. That's when a student was seen using a cell phone during school hours, which violates school rules. The phone was seized, and the photos were found on it, police said. When police investigated, other phones with more pictures were seized.

"Taking nude pictures of yourself, nothing good can come out of it," said Seranko.

The Greensburg Salem School District issued a statement on Tuesday saying there was “no evidence of inappropriate activity on school grounds or during the school day other than the violation of the (school's) electronic devices policy.”

The school district said it only became aware of the arrest of the students on Monday and will continue to work cooperatively with police, as well as continue to enforce its electronic devices policy and educate students on the dangers of inappropriate use of electronic devices.

Police said the girls are being charged with manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography while the boys face charges of possession.

"It's very dangerous," said Seranko. "Once it's on a cell phone, that cell phone can be put on the Internet where everyone in the world can get access to that juvenile picture. You don't realize what you are doing until it's already done."

 

[Sunstone]

Nudity is closely associated with pornography in American culture and society. Perhaps in another culture or society, the children's nudity would not be so readily seen by the police as pornographic.

 

[+Xausted]

Nudity is closely associated with pornography in American culture and society. Perhaps in another culture and society, the children's nudity would not be so readily seen by the police as pornographic.

Although I agree with you, and that the world seems to have gone mad on political correctness nowadays, there are obvious issues with this case - the internet for one.
However do feel the charges should not have been brought and just some serious warnings issued to the involved parties.

 

[DallasApple]

I think the young people should have been turned over to their parents to handle this.

Love

Dallas

 

[DallasApple]

Although I agree with you, and that the world seems to have gone mad on political correctness nowadays, there are obvious issues with this case - the internet for one.
However do feel the charges should not have been brought and just some serious warnings issued to the involved parties.

I didnt see where theses photos were put on the internet..Maybe Im reading it wrong..but it sounds like the pictures were only on cell phone cameras.

Love

Dallas

 

[+Xausted]

I didnt see where theses photos were put on the internet..Maybe Im reading it wrong..but it sounds like the pictures were only on cell phone cameras.

Love

Dallas

Its more the potential. You know what teenage boys can be like

 

[Sunstone]

Although I agree with you, and that the world seems to have gone mad on political correctness nowadays...

I think I know what you're saying my friend, but I believe that the American aversion to nudity is more than a matter of political correctness. I'd call it closer to embracing insanity than political correctness. The American aversion to nudity contradicts nearly every scientific study done on the impact nudity has on people, particularly females. The aversion is not based in reality, but in fantasy.

...there are obvious issues with this case - the internet for one.

Perhaps that's got some truth in it. I imagine that, depending on whether their location can be identified from the photos, the girls might have put themselves at risk of being stalked. But is that what you're alluding to? Or am I missing something?

However do feel the charges should not have been brought and just some serious warnings issued to the involved parties.

To be labeled a sex offender in the US is a very serious charge. If the police in this case had set out with the malicious intent of wrecking the young lives of these boys and girls, they could not have chosen a much better crime to charge them with than one which could get them convicted as sex offenders. Of course the severity of that depends on state law. But in most states, that sort of thing can be devastating.

 

[Sunstone]

I think the young people should have been turned over to their parents to handle this.

Love

Dallas

I agree.

 

[+Xausted]

[/color]I think I know what you're saying my friend, but I believe that the American aversion to nudity is more than a matter of political correctness. I'd call it closer to embracing insanity than political correctness. The American aversion to nudity contradicts nearly every scientific study done on the impact nudity has on people, particularly females. The aversion is not based in reality, but in fantasy.

Maybe you should start naked marches and desentize them then

Perhaps that's got some truth in it. I imagine that, depending on whether their location can be identified from the photos, the girls might have put themselves at risk of being stalked. But is that what you're alluding to? Or am I missing something?
I was meaning that if someone had posted it on the internet it increases the amount of child porn out there...something non of us want. However yes, stalking would also be a factor.


To be labeled a sex offender in the US is a very serious charge. If the police in this case had set out with the malicious intent of wrecking the young lives of these boys and girls, they could not have chosen a much better crime to charge them with than one which could get them convicted as sex offenders. Of course the severity of that depends on state law. But in most states, that sort of thing can be devastating.

I think it is a serious charge anywhere in the world and to over use it undermines it!

 

[Guitar's Cry]

There's a lot we don't know about the people involved.

Were the girls aware of what they were doing? Were the boys aware of the pictures sent? What was the intent behind the pictures?

I think for the ages, sexual exploration is perfectly natural.

 

[Sunstone]

I was meaning that if someone had posted it on the internet it increases the amount of child porn out there...something non of us want.

I think it's interesting that we readily associate child nudity with child porn. But without seeing the actual photos, I am unwilling to assume they were pornographic. For all I know, they display simple nudity, and nothing more than simple nudity.

 

[+Xausted]

I think it's interesting that we readily associate child nudity with child porn. But without seeing the actual photos, I am unwilling to assume they were pornographic. For all I know, they display simple nudity, and nothing more than simple nudity.

Yes, rational people may not associate the two as the same, however we are nowadays aware that not all people are that rational and would happily get off on simple naked pictures. It is sad but unrealistic to think otherwise.

 

[Sunstone]

There's a lot we don't know about the people involved.

I agree. News reports of things like this seldom tell us enough to really know what's going on.

 

[Sunstone]

Yes, rational people may not associate the two as the same, however we are nowadays aware that not all people are that rational and would happily get off on simple naked pictures. It is sad but unrealistic to think otherwise.

Of course some people get off on naked pictures of young girls. But some people get off on the merely suggested nudity found in some shower soap and perfume ads --- or even get off on pictures of dogs for that matter. There is no telling what people will get off on. Are we to allow such aesthetically handicapped people to determine for us what the majority of us who are not aesthetically handicapped think is pornographic? I suspect that would be madness.

 

[DallasApple]

When I had my youngest photographed at Olin Mills when he was a baby..I asked for a "naked butt" picture..You know the ones..baby lying on his tummy nude..exposing only the rear end?They told me they wouldnt shoot that pose..that it could be considered kiddie porn.

Love

Dallas

 

[Magic Man]

It doesn't seem like child porn to me, but as has been said, we don't have enough information.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

To be labeled a sex offender in the US is a very serious charge. If the police in this case had set out with the malicious intent of wrecking the young lives of these boys and girls, they could not have chosen a much better crime to charge them with than one which could get them convicted as sex offenders. Of course the severity of that depends on state law. But in most states, that sort of thing can be devastating.

To me this is the most serious part of this particular case. The police are saying that these kids don't understand what they could be doing to damage their reputations. Do the cops understand what a sex offender label will do to their reputations? To me this is just heavy handed zero tolerance BS and they are harming young adults to prove a point.

 

[DallasApple]

I dont understand how its even a crime for a 14 year old girl to take a naked picture of herself and show it to someone.Of course its stupid..and could be dangerous..and her parents should discipline her.But how is it criminal?

Love

Dallas

 

[Sunstone]

I dont understand how its even a crime for a 14 year old girl to take a naked picture of herself and show it to someone.Of course its stupid..and could be dangerous..and her parents should discipline her.But how is it criminal?

Love

Dallas

I almost completely agree with this. I don't think it is always stupid, though. Just sometimes stupid.

 

[Sunstone]

By the way, a friend just sent me news of this report 15 minutes ago:

A high-profile task force
representing 49 state attorneys general was organized to find a
solution to the problem of online sexual solicitation. But instead
the panel has issued a report (due to be released tomorrow) claiming
that 'Social networks are very much like real-world communities that
are comprised mostly of good people who are there for the right
reasons.' The report concluded that 'the problem of child-on-child
bullying, both online and offline, poses a far more serious challenge
than the sexual solicitation of minors by adults.'"
Well, good news if you're worried about sexual predation on kids. Not
so good if you're worried about bullying. But of course, now that we
know that kids are more threatened by the (less-sexy,
less-mediagenic) scourge of bullying than the (incredibly scary,
totally mediagenic) risk of sexual predation, we'll divert funds and
resources to the real risk, right?
Right?

"The 278-page report, released Tuesday, was the result of a year of
meetings between dozens of academics, experts in childhood safety and
executives of 30 companies, including Yahoo, AOL, MySpace and
Facebook.
The task force, led by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at
Harvard University, looked at scientific data on online sexual
predators and found that children and teenagers were unlikely to be
propositioned by adults online. In the cases that do exist, the
report said, teenagers are typically willing participants and are
already at risk because of poor home environments, substance abuse or
other problems."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/technology/internet/14cyberweb.html?_r=1