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Home > Blogs > Women's Life > Archives > 2009 > April > 13 > Entry
Vermont considers allowing ‘sexting’
Vermont lawmakers are considering allowing the practice of “sexting” under certain circumstances.
A state’s attorney summed up the logic this way: “We don’t want to condone it. We need to educate. But there’s no public interest in labeling them as sex offenders for engaging in a perverted, albeit new, form of courtship.”
Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan went on to say that the law would continue to punish sexting committed through force, coercion or other pressures.
Read this carefully and consider carefully: The Vermont law does not encourage “sexting.”
It also still makes passing along images of the original receiver a crime.
The point is to discontinue the practice of young people - senders and recipients - who were brought to adult courts on felony charges, then convicted and labeled pedophiles, and whose names will be included on sex-offender registries for years.
The law is intending to keep up with technology.
Parents are still able to monitor their children’s cell phones, discuss “sexting” with them and clearly, tell their children not to do it.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: health
Comments
By tm
April 13, 2009 9:52 AM | Link to this
God help us in America when sending nude photo’s through our cell phones is considered “courtship”??? What message are we sending to our children.
By Kertservo
April 13, 2009 10:23 AM | Link to this
Seems like someone in VT has a little sense. I feel that it is unreasonable to charge a kid as a sex offender for sending or posessing a picture from another kid
By Publicus
April 13, 2009 12:19 PM | Link to this
Finally some legislators with common sense. Teenagers are going to do stupid stuff. That shouldn’t brand them for life.
By NJones
April 13, 2009 7:35 PM | Link to this
Like graffiti, sexting is a stupid act of a teen but it should have a consequence, albeit not pornography. I am curious as to what the consequence will be of sending the photo i