States Reevaluating Criminalization of Juvenile Cyber-Sex
By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair
This past legislative session Texas joined the ranks of a small number of states which have reduced criminalization “teen sexting.” Gov. Rick Perry signed the law this past June which is designed to, according to Wireupdate, “prevent teenagers from sexting without subjecting them to serious criminal penalties that have life-long consequences.” Before this latest legislation became law on September 1st teenagers could have faced the more serious felony charge of “promotion of child pornography” which, upon conviction, would have resulted in lifetime registration as a “sex offender.”
The new law permits prosecutors to charge minors, younger than 18, caught sexting with a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than $4,000, confinement in jail for less than a year, or both. Prosecutors can also request courts sentence the youths to “participate in an education program about sexting’s harmful long-term consequences,” reported Wireupdate. But more significantly the bill requires the Texas School Safety Center, with input from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, to develop an “education program” that will allow schools to first “address the consequences of sexting.”
“Studies show that teenage students are increasingly creating, sending and receiving explicit pictures of themselves on their mobile telephones,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said. “The practice is not just harmful to the young Texans who appear in compromising photograph – it poses significant legal risks. Thanks to Sen. Kirk Watson’s legislation, Texas has a common sense law that holds wrongdoers accountable – but does not impose life-altering consequences on young offenders.”
Sen. Watson, the sponsor of the bill in the Texas Senate, said the new law is a “timely [and] thoughtful” response to modern legal issue faced by prosecutors and children. He added: “This problem must be met head-one with both educational and appropriate consequences. We’ve given law enforcement an alternative for dealing with juveniles who make a mistake, and we’ve left prosecutors the discretion to pursue felony charges against those who constitute a true threat to our children.”
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