‘Sexting’ lands teen on sex offender list
‘Sexting’ lands teen on sex offender list
- Story Highlights
- Phillip Alpert, now a registered sex offender, sent pictures of his 16-year-old girlfriend
- Marissa Miller was 12 when she took cell phone photos of herself in a bra
- Her mother, MaryJo, is suing the DA to prevent him from filing charges
- Jessica Logan committed suicide after her nude photo was sent to several teens
CNN’s American Morning
(CNN) — When Vanessa Hudgens’ naked photos hit the Internet, the “High School Musical” star quickly apologized. But sending nude or seminude pictures, a phenomenon known as sexting, is a fast-growing trend among teens.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen & Unplanned Pregnancy, a private nonprofit group whose mission is to protect children, and CosmoGirl.com, surveyed nearly 1,300 teens about sex and technology. The result: 1 in 5 teens say they’ve sexted even though the majority know it could be a crime.
Phillip Alpert found out the hard way. He had just turned 18 when he sent a naked photo of his 16-year-old girlfriend, a photo she had taken and sent him, to dozens of her friends and family after an argument. The high school sweethearts had been dating for almost 2½ years. “It was a stupid thing I did because I was upset and tired and it was the middle of the night and I was an immature kid,” says Alpert.
Orlando, Florida, police didn’t see it that way. Alpert was arrested and charged with sending child pornography, a felony to which he pleaded no contest but was later convicted. He was sentenced to five years probation and required by Florida law to register as a sex offender.
“You will find me on the registered sex offender list next to people who have raped children, molested kids, things like that, because I sent child pornography,” says Alpert in disbelief, explaining, “You think child pornography, you think 6-year-old, 3-year-old little kids who can’t think for themselves, who are taken advantage of. That really wasn’t the case.”
Alpert’s attorney Larry Walters agrees and he’s fighting to get Alpert removed from Florida’s sex offender registry. The law lags behind the technology, he says. “Sexting is treated as child pornography in almost every state and it catches teens completely offguard because this is a fairly natural and normal thing for them to do. It is surprising to us as parents, but for teens it’s part of their culture.”
In many states, like Florida, if a person is convicted of a crime against children, it automatically triggers registration to the sex offender registry. Thirty-eight states include juvenile sex offenders in their sex offender registries. Alaska, Florida and Maine will register juveniles only if they are tried as adults. Indiana registers juveniles age 14 and older. South Dakota registers juveniles age 15 and older. Most states allow public access to sex offender registries via the Internet and anyone with a computer can locate registered sex offenders in their neighborhoods.
Watch a report on the ‘sexting’ trend and how police are now getting involved »
A number of states have elected not to provide Internet access to registries; Florida is not one of them. There is no hiding for Alpert, whose neighbors, he says, all know. “I am a sex offender. If you type my name into the search engine online, you will find me.”
As sexting incidents pop up around the country, prosecutors are trying to come to terms with how these cases should be handled. George Skumanick Jr., a district attorney from Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, took a novel approach when 20 students from Tunkhannock High School were caught allegedly sexting.
He gave them a choice: probation and re-education classes or be charged with sexual abuse of a minor. “An adult would go to prison for this,” says Skumanick, adding, “If you take the photo, you’ve committed a crime. If you send the photo, you’ve committed a different crime, but essentially the same crime.”
Critics, however, say child pornography laws on the possession or dissemination of graphic images were never meant to apply to teen sexting and that these teenagers usually have no criminal intent when they send pictures to each other.
amFIX: Should teens be prosecuted for “sexting”?
Fifteen-year-old Marissa Miller of northeastern Pennsylvania was 12 when she and a friend snapped themselves wearing training bras. “I wasn’t trying to be sexual,” she says, “I was having fun with my friends at a sleepover, taking pictures, dancing to music.” The picture recently surfaced on a student’s cell phone and Marissa’s mom, MaryJo Miller, was contacted by Skumanick. “He told me that he had a full nude photo of my daughter,” says MaryJo Miller, who calls the picture innocent.
Rather than force her daughter to take the classes, which would have required she write a report explaining why what she did was wrong, Miller and two other families – with the help of the ACLU — are suing the district attorney to stop him from filing charges. “We believe she was the victim and that she did nothing wrong,” says Miller. “How can I ask her to compromise her values and write this essay, when she didn’t do anything?”
Although the district attorney maintains the program is voluntary, the letter he sent to parents notes, “Charges will be filed against those who do not participate.” Seventeen of the 20 students caught in the sexting incidents have completed the 14 hours of classes.
Skumanick won’t comment on the Miller case, but says, “You can’t call committing a crime fun or a prank. If you do that, you can rob a bank because you think it’s fun.” In the majority of sexting cases, it’s usually girls sending pictures to boys, who then send them to their friends. Though teens may think it’s funny and a way to flirt or even seek revenge after a breakup, there can be dangerous consequences.
Last year, Jessica Logan, a Cincinnati, Ohio, teen, hanged herself after her nude photo, meant for her boyfriend, was sent to teenagers at several high schools. For months after, her father says, she was the subject of ridicule and taunts. “Everyone knew about that photo,” Bert Logan says. “She could not live it down.” On July 3, his wife found her. “She had been getting dressed to go out. The curling iron was still warm. It was so unexpected,” Logan says. “I heard my wife scream, I ran up to Jessie’s room, but it was too late.”
No charges had been filed against Jessica’s 19-year-old boyfriend, who disseminated the photo, nor had the school taken any action, Logan says. He says he and his wife want to warn parents and students of the dangers of sexting. The Logans are fighting to raise awareness nationally and to advocate for laws that address sexting and cyber-bullying.
As for Alpert, life is not easy as a registered sex offender, a label he will carry until the age of 43. He’s been kicked out of college, he cannot travel out of the county without making prior arrangements with his probation officer, he has lost many friends and is having trouble finding a job because of his status as a convicted felon. He says he feels terrible about sending the photo of his ex-girlfriend, especially since they were once so close.
At the same time, Alpert says, “I’m being punished for the rest of my life for something that took two minutes or less to do.” Says attorney Walters, “Some judges have the good sense and reasonableness to treat this as a social problem and others are more zealous in their efforts to put everybody away and I think it’s time as a society that we step back a little bit and avoid this temptation to lock up our children.”
Since the boom of technology, especially cell phone use and picture messaging, many cases like this keep occurring and affect more than just the victims. In the situation of Philip Alpert, I think he should get some sort of punishment or fine, but to be labeled a sex-offender for majority of his life seemed a bit harsh. I believe he could be charged for exploitation rather than be a registered sex offender, but his ex-girlfriend should also receive some form of consequence too since she allegedly took the pictures of herself. In that aspect, sending it through a picture message is putting that information out into the world on her decision. From the article, Philip seemed deeply sorry and realized the severity of what he has done and the effects it has on him and others.
However, it is also horrible that some cases result in the end of a life…from an action that took just seconds to carry out. I think some states need to realize the changes of today and alter some laws and base them on degree of severity and other conditions, but resulting in fairness of punishment for the crime committed on both parts.
First of all at age 16, the girl shouldn’t be taking such pictures and sending them out. The boy, however, is just as guilty for sending them. Getting in a fight is one thing but to send inappropriate pictures to friends and family? A little excessive and immature. It’s a shame that he has been registered as a sex offender which is definitely a little far fetched for what he did. With “sexting” becoming so popular it almost seems necessary to reevaluate what is a sex offender into categories. Each offenders case is different. Someone who has raped a child is not in the same category as Albert, who will now be considered to have done such an awful crime as other offenders has.
First of all at age 12, the girl shouldn’t be taking such pictures and sending them out. The boy, however, is just as guilty for sending them. Getting in a fight is one thing but to send inappropriate pictures to friends and family? A little excessive and immature. It’s a shame that he has been registered as a sex offender which is definitely a little far fetched for what he did. With “sexting” becoming so popular it almost seems necessary to reevaluate what is a sex offender into categories. Each offenders case is different. Someone who has raped a child is not in the same category as Albert, who will now be considered to have done such an awful crime as other offenders has.
I think that this is a topic that has a lot of different angles to take into consideration. On one hand, it is obvious that no matter how mad Phillip was at this girl, there is no excuse for sending those pictures to all of those people. However, I’m not sure that his punishment is an appropriate one. I think that technology is more advanced than the laws attatched to this “sexting” issue. I’m not sure of exactly what the best solution for the sexting issue would be, but I think there needs to be a new development in the laws that set sending pictures like this over cell phones on a different level than most other sex offenses like child pornography. It is obviously a big issue and I think that a person who takes these photos, sent by a girlfriend for example, and sends them to other people out of anger, should have some sort of consequence, but I don’t think being a registered sex offender, getting kicked out of college, and having trouble finding a job for the rest of your life should be that punishment. I also think that people need to take into consideration the fact that when they send someone a picture like this, there is always a chance of it getting around. I am not suggesting that it makes it ok for someone to do this by any means, but that it should be kept in mind.
It is obvious that when people do send pictures like these, that the effects on a person can be extreme, as mentioned in the article above and therefore, I think there should be a pretty serious consequence for doing this, but not as extreme as Phillip’s situation. I think it is a tough issue to handle appropriatley, but in my opinion, something needs to change as far as altering the laws goes.
I don’t think that the punishments for “sexting” should be the same as those for child pornography. They are two different issues and should have different punishments because those set for child porn do not take the advances in technology into consideration. There should be better ways to let teens know that this is a bad idea or “crime” and they can get in trouble for it, I think that education of this issue might deter some teenagers, not all but some at least, so they can protect themselves. I think that Phillip was upset and didn’t think about the consequences of his actions but that doesn’t mean he should be on the sex offenders list and be kicked out of college either.
Gelles and Straus explained that “if other means of getting your way, dealing with stress, or expressing yourself do not work, violence is permissible.” Although I would not classify Alpert’s acts as violence, he did say that it was late, he was tired, and he was stressed so he reacted immaturely. While this is only an explanation for his behavior, it does not make his behavior right or acceptable.
His acts are considered a case of abuse to me. Marissa might have been emotionally or mentally abused due to what Phillip did. Therefore, although Marissa sent the pictures to him this definitely deserves some means of punishment because he had no right to send them to anyone else. I think the fact that he was placed on the sex offenders list for “sexting” was a bit harsh but laws are laws and if you violate these social norms then action must be taken because if you let one person get away with it then you must let everyone else get away with it too. Hopefully this was a lesson well learned and hopefully he “mans up” after this and quit acting immaturely.
I also agree that the punishment for “sexting” should not be the same as for child pornography. Although taking these types of pictures is inappropriate, I feel these situations should and could be handled differently. Especially when punishing a juvenile. Both the boy and girl were wrong for engaging in this behavior and I feel that these laws a extremely harsh. Some other type of punishment needs to be enforced for this kind of behavior amongst juveniles.
It’s so sad that parents reporting in these articles can say that the issue of “sexting” is normal for teens in this generation. Sexting is by no means in my mind normal behavior. It should be handled with as much privacy and tacit language like the issue of sex or rape. Taking nude pictures or racy pictures of a girl or boy’s body is as much an issue to take into consideration as sex. I don’t understand why teens today think that it is different. It is completely different because you are sending your naked body, your best kept secret in life, to anybody who has technology or access to technology. The amount of hackers and tech-savvy people in the world today is astonishing and they know the many ways of how to get anything they want from the invisible boundaries of wired and wireless gadgets.
I believe it is a little much for someone charged for sexting to be submitted to the sex offender registry, but i do believe that they should do a little time in jail, in order to let them understand the severity of the crime, and definitely have a penalty fee applied. Also the person who had the picture taken of them, whether they sent it or not, should be punished because they need to know that it is NOT ok to be doing this. I understand the human race is a sexually charged species, but to think that taking naked pictures of yourself and leaving them saved to a phone, camera, whatever, is a big problem and that needs to change.