Teens Charged With Texting Nude Pics of North Jersey Girl [POLL]

Here we have an adult crime committed by kids.

Should they be charged with “endangering the welfare of a child” when they themselves are children?

This is part of the problem we face living in the “brave new world” of having cellphone technology at our fingertips – and giving it to our kids to use.

Here’s the breakdown according to northjersey.com:

Detective Sgt. James Briggs of Fair Lawn Police said the two teens arrested have been charged with one count each of endangering the welfare of a child.

"They are very serious charges," he said.

 

In a statement, Little Falls police urged parents to monitor their child’s phone and social media usage, and asked that they explain to their children that taking, sending and sharing naked pictures of underage individuals is a crime.

I don’t want to minimize the seriousness of what these kids did.

Those photos and videos could very easily wind up in the wrong hands and spread all over the world.

However, by charging them with the crime of “endangering the welfare of a child”; aren’t we, in effect, marking them for life?

Recently Governor Christie signed a bill into law that would exclude kids who sext pictures of themselves from having to register as Megan’s Law offenders.

The law, specifically states the following by the Townsquare News Staff:

….the measure would exclude from the registry any “young person who has been adjudicated delinquent for an offense that would constitute ‘sexting,’ under the following circumstances;

the case only involves creating, showing or distributing “a photograph involving nudity through the use of an electronic communication device, an interactive wireless communications device or a computer;”

the photographer and the person in the photo are juveniles at the time;

the person whose nudity is shown in the photo has “knowingly consented” to it.

The part of this law that does’t apply to this case is the last condition stating whether or not the person in the photo knowingly consented to having the picture transmitted.

One can only infer that is not the case here.

However, do you feel the two teens charged with “endangering the welfare of a child” should be charged with an adult crime – or given some other punishment?