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RIVERSIDE — Two Stebbins High School students, who were caught using their cell phones to send images containing photographs of nudity and sex acts between two girls, can avoid criminal prosecution if they complete a diversion program.
Felony charges of illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance hang over the students’ heads, providing them with a real incentive to complete the program, said Julie Bruns, chief of the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s juvenile division.
“If they complete it successfully, they won’t have a record,” she said.
But some lawmakers, such as state Rep. Connie Pillich, D-Cincinnati, maintain that the Ohio laws at prosecutors’ disposal are needlessly harsh when considering the youthful nature of the offenses and how many otherwise good teenagers engage in the activity.
About 20 percent of teens between 13 and 19 admitted to sending nude or semi-nude photos or videos of themselves to others, according to a survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy,
Riverside incident
On Oct. 25, Stebbins officials learned a female student sexted two images of her and another girl two days earlier to a male student, a police report states.
The photographs depicted the girls performing sex acts on each other at one of their homes. The girls told police they were just “goofing around.”
The male recipient told a friend about the photographs and then forwarded them to him, the report states.
The girls told school officials and police they learned many of their peers knew about the photographs and teased them. The school contacted police and the students’ parents.
After investigating, police decided to submit charges to the juvenile prosecutor’s office against the girl who sent the photos and the boy who forwarded them to his friend, according to the report. The charge listed in the report was for disseminating matter harmful to a juvenile, a misdemeanor charge. All four students were also suspended from school.
In lieu of charges
Instead of filing charges, Bruns said she is referring the two juveniles to her office’s diversion program, which allows participants to avoid a criminal record by finishing an educational course, undergoing six months of supervision and performing community service.
Between 50 to 60 juveniles have successfully finished the program since it began in 2009.
But Bruns said she will file felony charges against youths who fail to complete the program and comply with its mandates. The charge, she said, that fits is illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, which can carry penalties of detention and sex-offender registration.
Bruns said her office supports prosecutors using Ohio’s existing criminal laws to try cases involving sexting. She said first-time sexting offenders will be educated about the activity and its legal consequences through the diversion program and will get an opportunity to clean up their act.
If they fail to heed the message and re-offend, the juveniles will be charged with a serious crime.
“We don’t think we need to change the laws at all,” Bruns said. “We think we need to exercise the discretion we have as prosecutors and offer some education to these kids to let them know that (these behaviors) carry hefty consequences.”
Only one of the juveniles who has participated in the diversion program was unsuccessful and criminally charged, she said.
Hormones and camera phones
But Pillich said no section of Ohio’s criminal code accurately reflects the behavior and provides a reasonable punishment. She said it is unfair that juveniles can be charged with serious and life-damaging crimes for youthful imprudence.
“They were charging them with high level felonies and making them register as sex offenders,” she said. “Although the behavior is not good, it should not destroy lives.”
Earlier this year, Pillich introduced House Bill 473, a measure that would designate sexting among juveniles as unruliness, a misdemeanor offense.
The bill passed the House in May by a vote of 86-12, but the measure is expected to die in the Senate because legislators only meet once more this year in a lame-duck session. Pillich vows to introduce an identical bill next year.
Despite disagreement about the laws used to prosecute sexting, everyone seems to agree the behavior is a major concern.
One of the biggest problems is that young people do not realize that the photos they send to one person may be forwarded and viewed by many others, leading to embarrassment and guilt. Photographs sent to a romantic partner may appear on the Internet or in the inboxes of other peers when the romance deteriorates.
Jessica Logan, 18, of Cincinnati, hanged herself in 2008 after her ex-boyfriend forwarded a nude photo she had sent him to other girls at school. Hope Witsell, 13, of Sundance, Fla., also hanged herself after a topless photo of her spread and other students bullied her.
In the Miami Valley, about 10 Alter High School in April 2009 students were suspended for forwarding a sexually explicit photograph of a freshman to other students. No criminal charges were filed.
In separate incidents in 2009, young teenagers in Middletown and Mason landed in hot water with authorities for having nude photographs and video of other students on their cell phones.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-0749 or cfrolik@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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