High Schoolers Accused Of Sending Naked Pictures To Each Other

[MicroBalrog]

It seems nudity is bad between kids, but partial nudity may be good when looking for contraband... ibuprofen - http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/16/teen.strip.search/index.html

IT's all justified when fighting the Demon Rum Weed pills.

[Uncle Bubba]

I do wonder what would happen here. Drinking age is only 18, and I suppose there are some 14-year olds out there who could pass for 18. I prefer not to think about it really. Then, my favourite watering hole is guaranteed to not have any minors, and because it's a student pub, a general lack of lowlifes as well.

I had two buddies who got hoist by the underage petard when I was a young soldier stationed in (West) Germany in the early '80s.

First guy was Shane, one of my friends in my unit, and at one point he'd been dating a certain German girl for a few months. We'd all met her and thought she was a doll in looks and personality, and she'd told him and us she was nineteen. He came in my barracks room one night looking like he'd just seen his own ghost. When I asked him what was wrong he said, "I just found out my girlfriend's fourteen!" He called her from the barracks and told her that he'd found out about her, and never saw or spoke to her again.

Shane was lucky he found out from others and didn't end up like my other buddy. Rae was someone I knew from Infantry School and was stationed in another city. He also had been dating a girl for a few months, and she'd also told him she was nineteen. She lived with her parents and told him they didn't like Americans so he never went there or met them, but on occasion they would go out of town and he'd spend the weekend there with her. One weekend her parents came back early, walked in the bedroom, and caught him "in the saddle". His girlfriend screamed "RAPE!", the Polizei and MPs were called, and that's when he found out she was only fifteen. He told all and sundry that she'd picked him up in a bar and lied to him about her age, which was the truth, but to no avail. He spent several years in the US Army prison in Mannheim.

[Balog]

- A 13-year-old Arizona girl who was strip-searched by school officials looking for ibuprofen pain reliever will have her case heard at the Supreme Court.

And people wonder why I'm going to home-school.....

[Gewehr98]

And people wonder why I'm going to home-school.....

Haven't you already been through school? 

[dogmush]

It seems nudity is bad between kids, but partial nudity may be good when looking for contraband... ibuprofen - http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/16/teen.strip.search/index.html

As a side note, Aren't we teaching kids to think for them selves any more?

I graduated Highschool 12 years ago, which isin't all that long ago,  and If me or any of my group of friends had been ordered to strip in school we would have laughed in the administrators face and dared them to try and make us.  That's obviously excessive.  Sure we would have been suspended, but at least we would have been suspended fully clothed.

Hell I asked for a warrant when they wanted to search my car at a senior party, and bluffed my way past the parent in charge of searching when they didn't have one.

One of my friends booby-trapped his locker with a paint ballon when they started random drug searches.  He put a note on the outside warning that he had done it due to "recent thefts" that the vice principal thought was a joke.  He got suspended, but was a hero for the rest of the year.

Aren't teenagers supposed to rebel against athourity?  Why are kids, and to a lesser extent parents, standing for this?

As far as the OP goes, I'm somewhat speechless.  I thought the intent of those laws was to protect the children involved, not prosocute them.  Of course I can just imagine the "soft on child porn" charges if any legislator were to suggest changing them.  These sharges will not help the kids, or society in any way.

[seeker_two]

As a side note, Aren't we teaching kids to think for them selves any more?

Nope.....independent thought and self-awareness aren't on any of the standardized tests (i.e. TAKS, ACT, SAT).....and they don't mesh well with zero-tolerance policies....indoctrination is a better teaching tool.....

[BryanP]

What exactly is one supposed to do when a dire need to urinate presents itself, and there are no available private facilities?

These days?  If I wasn't in a thoroughly rural and deserted setting I think I'd pee my pants rather than take a chance on a sex offender conviction.

[Fly320s]

I think I'd pee my pants

Pervert!!  Lock him up!   

[BryanP]

Pervert!!  Lock him up!   

Hmm.  Well, I can't really argue with you there.   

[HankB]

As a side note, Aren't we teaching kids to think for them selves any more?

I graduated Highschool 12 years ago, which isin't all that long ago,  and If me or any of my group of friends had been ordered to strip in school we would have laughed in the administrators face and dared them to try and make us. 

Good for you - that was my first thought, too, after seeing the strip search story.

My second thought was that if I had a daughter and that had happened to her, the school officials responsible would either be arrested and charged with sexual battery . . . or in a full body cast. 

It's been a bit longer than 12 years since my own HS graduation, but on more than one occasion, when the "authorities" attempted to overstep their bounds, they were simply ignored . . . I'd call it "nonviolent noncompliance."

School bureaucrats have a good deal of legitimate authority . . . but it's not infinite.

[Perd Hapley]

Aren't teenagers supposed to rebel against authority? 

No, they're not. 

[Cliff47]

Seems to me that the solution is much simpler than the taking/distribution of pictures.  Get the cell phones out of the hands of the kids (of any age) that are not mature enough to handle the things responsibly (including massive texting to the person next to you).

[freedom lover]

The idea of even arresting teens for this strikes me as stupid. If I were a school official I would simply call their parents and suggest an ass kicking. Of course, I probably wouldn't search the phone in the first place.

This whole case stinks of stupid, from the teacher all the way up to the law not allowing leeway for teenage mistakes.

[taurusowner]

The idea of even arresting teens for this strikes me as stupid. If I were a school official I would simply call their parents and suggest an ass kicking. Of course, I probably wouldn't search the phone in the first place.

This whole case stinks of stupid, from the teacher all the way up to the law not allowing leeway for teenage mistakes.

Exactly.  Teens have been doing this stuff for decades if not centuries.  I'd bet every one of the lawyers, judges, teachers, and even parents, did stuff like this(or at least wanted to), minus the digital camera of course, back in the 60s and 70s.  "The Sexual Revolution" is something that took place when these indignant adults were teens.  Show me one of these adults who says they never did any nude/sexual stuff when they were young teens, and I'll show you a liar.  This kind of thing should be dealt with the same way it was back then, with a firm hand on the backside and a severe grounding/talking to.  The police and the criminal justice system shouldn't even pay attention to this, much less do something about it.

[MechAg94]

For the lawyers, could the students argue that the search that found the pictures was unlawful?  Or does that only work if the police looked through the cell phone.  Is it SOP for the teachers to look through the cell phones?  I agree with the other comment above that the teacher should be put up on charges for viewing kiddie porn.

[lupinus]

This case highlights how ridiculous the age of consent/sexuality laws are in some parts of America.

A 17 year old is not a baby; you need a different type of crime if you want to punish this kind of behavior, because it is not child molestation.

Everyone knows that people are engaging in sexual behavior under 18.  These laws do precisely two things: 1. They enable the public to randomly select and ruin unpopular/unlucky juveniles and 2. Make a mockery of efforts to encourage responsible growth into adulthood (by treating a 16 year old like a baby, where he might have already been married with a job and his own home in the not-too-distant-past).

My God I agree with SS.

I need a drink.

[grampster]

Let's see, you pick up your phone and turn it on and it tells you that there is a message from a friend.  You open the message and you find a naked picture of the friend.  Ten minutes later a teacher comes along and grabs your phone and then you are arrested for "receiving child pornagraphy".

All one did was open up a message and discover the stuff.  One did not go looking for it.  How can that be a crime?  Am I missing something here?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

when i was 25 i dated a girl for 8 months  she had a kid going on 2 worked full time at peoples drug  "asst manager" took her to the beach and she mentioned it was her birthday. i asked her how old she said 18 and i weanted to croak  wife one was 14 when we met and looked 23. scary world

[Owens]

Grampster,

I was thinking along the same lines. Guess that means that someone could get a phone number, send child porn from a throw away phone and the unlucky recipient chosen at random is now (gasp) a sex offender.
Reading your post, maybe it was the fact that 10 minutes later, it was still there? Maybe it was deleted but not out of the trash?

Everything is all out of hand. Sad.

[seeker_two]

For the lawyers, could the students argue that the search that found the pictures was unlawful?  Or does that only work if the police looked through the cell phone.  Is it SOP for the teachers to look through the cell phones?  I agree with the other comment above that the teacher should be put up on charges for viewing kiddie porn.

That may be the only saving grace to this....if the boys' lawyers can argue that the search was illegal, they may beat the charges....but the girl is SOL, I think....

[dogmush]

I'd be willing to bet that the Student Handbook says something to the extent of:  "Attendance at school implys consent to a search of all items brought onto school property"

Mine did.  That's why a bunch of us parked our cars across the street.

[MicroBalrog]

That may be the only saving grace to this....if the boys' lawyers can argue that the search was illegal, they may beat the charges....but the girl is SOL, I think....

How many times do we need to read stuff like this in the papers before people get properly outraged?

[De Selby]

For the lawyers, could the students argue that the search that found the pictures was unlawful?  Or does that only work if the police looked through the cell phone.  Is it SOP for the teachers to look through the cell phones?  I agree with the other comment above that the teacher should be put up on charges for viewing kiddie porn.

I'm pretty sure the fourth amendment type protections apply to school officials...but don't require a warrant or even probable cause, and even then an illegal search doesn't necessarily mean the evidence can't be used to prosecute.

The problem here is with the definition of the crime, not the means by which it was discovered.

[Firethorn]

I always wondered when someone would finally bring a gun with them (just in case) and what would happen if he pulled the piece and opened up on Chris...

I wondered about that myself when I first saw a show called 'fear factor' or something.  Involved trying to scare people - made them believe they were being stalked, robbed, burgled, whatever...  Only saw part of one show, but it had a couple 'scenes' and previews for upcoming displays.

One of them I would have drawn and had my pistol at ready...

Of course - Then we'd have 'fear factor - REVERSAL!!!' as the cameramen/hijinkers panic.

Back on subject - I remember hearing about a case like this a few years ago where the police did some huge investigation, expecting to get a serious pedophile, only to discover the girl had set up the scenes and taken the pictures herself.  Of course, sanity prevailed there in that they were talking counseling, not charges.  Though they did note that the only charges they could bring would be child porn ones, and they were open that the situation as it was, wasn't one lawmakers or them had ever considered.

[MechAg94]

I agree that how the evidence was discovered is a secondary question, but it could be important. 

I guess I don't know where this is, but do y'all think a jury would be inclined to convict on kiddie porn charges?  Do you think this is just a hard press so the prosecutor can get a plea deal?  If I was a juror, I think I would not be inclined to convict minors on porn charges like this.