These days most New Jersians, including middle and high school students, have access to cellphones and other forms of mobile technology. Middle and high school students sometimes also experiment with grown-up things, such as dating and romance. Unfortunately, the intersection of these two things can cause problems for students and their parents.
You may have heard of the phenomenon of, “sexting,” where one person sends a nude or sexually suggestive image of himself to another person via text message. A number of celebrities, politicians and athletes have gotten themselves into trouble with their partners and the general public due to sexting. Underage people, however, could be accused of juvenile crimes for sexting.
The images exchanged while sexting technically violate the laws against child pornography when done by juveniles. The juvenile sending the images could be charged with production of child pornography, even if that sender is only sending a picture of themselves. In fact, both the sender and recipient could be charged with possession of child pornography, regardless if the photographs are of themselves.
Conviction on a child pornography charge could have dire long-term consequences for young people in Morristown, New Jersey. Child pornography laws are some of the toughest criminal laws.
Although sexting among young people may be a problem, it is a different kind of problem from those that child pornography laws are meant to address. For this reason, it might be possible to negotiate with the prosecution for a lesser punishment than the maximum.
Another possibility is that the conduct in question does not technically violate any laws. For example, the law may have required that the actions be done with a certain intent on the part of the accused. If the prosecution cannot prove that the required intent was present, a finding of delinquency may be avoided.