Teen sexting and its punishment is a pressing issue in the American judicial system. While the victims of sexting urge offenders to be punished as harshly as the distributors of child pornography, others have highlighted that additional educational programs might be an alternative to sentencing (Wang, 2018). I believe that as the Internet becomes more prominent in teens’ everyday lives, sexting will also become more prevalent rather than diminish as a trend. Therefore, I think that the existing laws that punish teens sexting too harshly should be redacted to fit the context and severity of each case. In my opinion, the law that the article describes is one of the possible solutions that will yield the best results in terms of crime reduction (Wang, 2018). For instance, an accidental sharing of a teen’s nude photos should not be considered and punished as severely as the purposeful spread of child pornography for profit. Therefore, a program that allows people to recover from sex offenders’ charges upon completion of the educational program is a solution for less severe cases.
If to consider a situation where my child would be subjected to his/her nude images’ spread, I would try to help by providing psychological support and care. I would say that while this was a traumatic experience, it will not affect one’s life forever and serves as an essential lesson about privacy. The punishment I would find satisfactory would depend on the way an offender feels about the situation. If he/she expresses remorse, I would like them to fulfill the educational program required by the court to avoid charges and then apologize for their action in front of classmates.
References
Wang, A. (2018). Ohio House bill offers 2nd chance to teenagers caught sexting. WCPO. Web.