In response to the infamous incident (as reported here by the Indianapolis Star, Chicago Tribune, and The Vancouver Sun) that took place at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Valparaiso, Indiana last month, according to the South Bend Tribune article posted today entitled, “Sexting Legislation Kicked to Indiana Study Panel” the Indiana Legislature is more than a little confused. Responses, which appear to be nothing more than hasty reactions to the incident, defy principles of sound public policy. The Indiana Senate responded with a knee jerk reaction, coined Senate Bill 224, which proposed to make it a felony offense for a minor to send explicit photos via text message to other minors. While this issue may pose a major problem for our Hoosier teenagers, it makes sending photos a felony offense, while engaging in the act of physical sexual intercourse is no crime at all. Hasty decision making? I would think so. (For full discussion, see Indiana Law Blog Entry, “Student sexting in Indiana, are felonies the answer?”)
Even if we were able to develop a consistent set of laws punishing teens (pre-teens in this case), I’m not sure that punishing children is appropriate here. First, criminally prosecuting these kids will expose otherwise law abiding teens and pre-teens to the criminal justice system, potentially turning them into real criminals as young adults for something that should be corrected elsewhere. Second, it displaces the moral culpability that parents should pick up for their children sending inappropriate messages. Should children have cell phones in the classroom in the first place? If so, should they have carte blanche to call and send messages? It seems like this could potentially create greater problems than just inappropriate images. Where is the parental supervision here? Are we sleeping at the wheel, parents…!?