Rep. Connie Pillich’s desire to prevent teenagers from being charged under felony child pornography laws is commendable.
These laws were enacted to protect children, and it would be a terrible distortion to apply them to teenagers who show a lack of judgment.
However, all the legislation thus far falls short because it continues to treat this problem as a criminal offense.
Funneling more children into the justice system will only exacerbate our already overburdened courts, and could cause them to fall deeper into the court system.
Instead, we must work to create strong educational programs to help teens cultivate better judgment and respect for others.
Our legal system does provide other options for people who are upset that their nude pictures were distributed without their permission: they should utilize the civil courts and sue the person for violating their privacy rights.
Those who disseminate personal photos would still have negative consequences, but would not be labeled as a criminal and processed through the justice system.
In order to truly prevent sexting, we must look past the courtroom and into our classrooms and living rooms.
Young people must be educated by parents, teachers and other role models on the fundamentals of respect for their peers, the power and responsibility of technology, and privacy.
Carrie L. Davis
Cleveland
Ms. Davis is legislative counsel, American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio.