People go to jail for this?

The New York Times recently reported that several states are considering bills that tackle juvenile sexting (the transmission of nude or “provocative” pictures to another person, usually by cell phone). Lawmakers are trying to address sexting largely because of a serious loophole in federal and state child pornography laws. In most states, when a teen sends a nude or “provocative” image of him/herself to another teen, it is not legally distinct from producing, distributing, or possessing child pornography. Clearly child pornography laws are meant to protect children from exploitation. The penalties for
distributing sexually explicit images of minors include lengthy prison sentences and a lifetime of being a registered sex offender. These penalties, however, make little sense if the victim and the perpetrator are the same person.

All of the state bills consider lighter penalties than currently exist for juvenile sexting. Many include provisions that redirect teens who are caught sexting to education programs, in order to avoid criminal prosecution. The bills use a variety of approaches to address sexting among teens and tweens. But one thing remains consistent in all of them. Each bill retains the possibility of criminal prosecution for sexting.

It is important to differentiate teen sexting from child pornography. But by specifically defining sexting as a criminal activity, state legislatures are rushing to stop a form of sexual expression without first trying to understand it. Why aren’t we having a broader conversation about what the most appropriate response is to teen sexting?

[Source]

Locking kids up for sending pictures to one another? Seems a little extreme, no?