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Texas Going Soft on Sexting? Teens May Be 'Educated' Rather Than Jailed
Filed under: In The News, Teen Culture
Don't even think about sexting. Credit: Getty
Sigh. What has happened to Texas?
State law makes it illegal for teenagers to send sexually explicit text messages, but the offenders are not executed.
Texas is usually the state you can count on to execute everyone -- even the developmentally disabled. All the "sexting" law does is chuck teens behind bars for up to 10 years and put them on sex offender lists for the rest of their lives.
Sorry. No "sexecutions." What fun is that?
Now, state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, wants to water down the law even more. The Houston Chronicle reports Watson wants to make sexting a Class C misdemeanor for first-time offenders younger than 18.
That reduces the offense from a third-degree felony with two to 10 years of jail time and other consequences. Watson's bill would enable judges to sentence kids (and at least one of their parents) to a program designed to teach people about the negative consequences of sexting.
Participants wouldn't even be chained at the ankles.
Nonetheless, Watson tells the Chronicle, what we have here is a failure to communicate. Teenagers should be taught rather than punished, he says.
"This bill ensures that prosecutors and, frankly, parents will have a new, appropriate tool to address this issue," he tells the newspaper. "It helps Texas laws keep up with technology and our teenagers."
Watson's bill also would allow teenagers to ask the courts to have their records wiped clean.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott tells the Chronicle the Lone Star State does not take sexting lightly. He cites a 2008 report from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy that says 22 percent of teenage girls have electronically transmitted nude or semi-nude images of themselves.
"Studies show that teenage students are increasingly taking, sending and receiving explicit pictures of themselves on their mobile telephones," Abbott tells the newspaper in a prepared statement.
"This dangerous trend is harmful to young Texans," he adds. "We are joining with Sen. Kirk Watson to address the growing problem of sexting and educate -- not criminalize -- young Texans who make the unwise decision to participate in it."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 2)
2-10-2011 @ 7:24PM
Natalie said...Education and awareness really should be the key. Educating teens about the social, mental and legal consequences of sexting so they fully realize how out of control things can get with one little sext when it goes viral. For more this, check out AsktheJudge.info which attempts to educate teens and parents about the dangers of sexing.
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2-11-2011 @ 7:01AM
Get Real said...Never mind the fact that the United States is the ONLY country in the world that actually considers such things as "crimes" by children. You people are INSANE.
2-10-2011 @ 9:56PM
Lauren said...I'm pretty darn sure anyone who sexts knows that what they're doing is inappropriate, so educating probably won't work very well.
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2-11-2011 @ 12:19AM
Alicia said...Yeah but who didn't do stupid shit when they were a teenager? There's never been a generation of 14-18 year olds who weren't horny little devils going out of their way for some form of release. Why should this generation go to jail when none of the past ones did?
2-11-2011 @ 6:10AM
Judy said...Those kids belong behind bars. America should bring back school prayers and return to our Christian heritage. God bless America. Take their sill little phones away from them. Problem solved.
2-11-2011 @ 7:34AM
dean5944 said...I can't believe the amount of sexting that goes on with my teens. Girls send them explicit photos and full nude shots that look like they came out of Playboy magazine. It starts with Facebook contact and then goes to the cells. Good luck trying to stop this. It's the fruit of the "Girl Empowerment" push. My sons don't mind but I feel sorry for their generation. They don't know what it's like to wait for a relationship to develope. For them there are so many girls making themselves available for sex they don't see any reason to "waste their time" with dating. They just "hook up"
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2-11-2011 @ 12:01PM
hank said...This whole thing is just a bunch of political bull. This stuff has been going on for thousands of years. What ever tech was available was used, home movie camera polaroids and now computers and cell phones. Texas is just a stupid holy roller state for the most part and maybe the kids there are rebelling to get away from that crap. There is no way this should be anykind of a legal problem unless it involes small children who could not have known what some sick adult was doing. If that is the case the adult should be hanged.
2-13-2011 @ 8:22PM
Alicia said...I agree with Hank. I'm probably only a little older than yours sons (20) and while I know my friends sext (as have I), it's only within committed relationships which are, trust me, far more normal than you make them out to be. Actually, I'm the only one of my friends (from all over the country) who has not been in a relationship for over a year (mine just started two weeks ago and we haven't even discussed sex). None of us are religious and none of us are traditional (none of us want to get married). If I've noticed anything in college and talking to high school students, it's that more people are desperate for a long term, stable relationship than are interested in casual sex. It gets scary sometimes because so many people I know are depressed that they haven't found their life partner yet.
2-11-2011 @ 7:47AM
Airforcemom said...If your child is sexting (or if someone sends them a sexually oriented message) take away their priviledge of having a cell phone, it's that easy! But before you prosecute the person for sending the message, you need to make sure your little darling isn't doing it too. Remember, the Sexter will pay the ultimate price when their nude picture is floating around the world wide web for everyone to see!
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2-11-2011 @ 8:17AM
Tom said...This writer obviously has some ax to grind with Texas.
He must have been busted in Texas for soliciting sex with another male.
Teenagers do stupid things.
With today's technologies, sexing has, unfortunately, become one of them.
Teenage sexing should have never been considered a felony.
That was just a knee-jerk reaction by politicians wanting to garner votes, but what do you expect.
Maybe this author was in prison for his crime at the time, and is just wanting payback.
A Class C Misdemeanor charge seems appropriate.
Requiring 40 hours of education for the offender and and both parents (paid for by them), and 40 hours of community service for the offender seem appropriate.
And, pay a hefty fine. Maybe $1,000?
I disagree with deletion of the records.
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2-11-2011 @ 8:23AM
Tom said...I apologize for the typos.
They should have been "sexting".
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2-11-2011 @ 8:48AM
Bobby said...The issue to me is that in today's society we are making growing up a crime. We have schools suspending kids for spitballs, police officer giving citations for cursing. Sending kids to court for assault because of a school yard confrontation. And the law as it stands makes them a sex offender for sending nude pictures.
Now, I agree, all of these actions are inappropriate. But a great portion of what kids do is part of learning how to interact with others in society. This is the electronic age, no more are they hiding the Playboys and Hustlers under the mattress. Everything for them today is electronic, and with that comes a whole new series of things that we as adults did not have to deal with.
I truly am beginning to understand those back in the day comments my parents used to make. We need to help our young people make good decisions but at the same time not make them criminals for making a bad decision in some areas.
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2-13-2011 @ 8:24PM
Alicia said...Oh thank you for being reasonable. I'm beginning to discover that that's a rare trait on this site.
2-11-2011 @ 9:19AM
Bill said...Birthday 1959. My girlfriend told me she had a super surprise for me. Her super surprise was a photograph of her in an outdoor setting wearing only a bra and panties. This was done in an age when all film had to be sent off to be developed and returned. If she would do something like that then, with multiple opportunities to be caught at it, is it any wonder at all they do it even more today? We were in out early teens at the time. In time we went our seperate ways. Neither of us became druggies, alcholics or molesters. Lighten up people!
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2-11-2011 @ 9:27AM
Harry Hurt said...Parents need to grab the bull by the horns. They should take the cell phones away from the kids. If they are to have a phone of their own, make it a pay phone. As for schoolyard confrontations, if any kid punches my kid, they are not only going to court, they are going to JAIL, or juvenile hall, or whatever it's called.
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2-11-2011 @ 11:23AM
Glen Hyde said...Yet one more instance of gov't getting involved in people's private lives and sticking their noses where they're neither needed or wanted. You're going to destroy someones life because they sent a picture to their boyfriend/girlfriend in private? That's morality in it's lowest form .HEY GOVERNMENT! STAY OUT OF PEOPLE'S PRIVATE LIVES! GET A FRIGGIN' CLUE!!!
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2-11-2011 @ 5:40PM
Steven said...And you probably support Obamacare and other liberal-supported government intrusions into businesses and people's lives.
2-11-2011 @ 10:20AM
Tom Molinaro said..."The ones claiming to have Morals, are the ones to watch out for, for what they don't do in public, they do behind closed doors". I.P.Daily
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2-11-2011 @ 10:28AM
Skip said...In today's new technology, parents have NO idea of what their children are doing on any of the social networking sites, and or texting. There is a new "Kid Lingo" and the kids are defined as "Natives" and the parents have become the "Immigrants". I am a certified Child Safety Advocate and I urge any parent of a "Tween to Teen" to get involved in the activities their children's online activities. Parents have NO clue who their children are chatting, or texting or sending out inappropriate material. Parents have NO clue who is bullying their children....If you really want to learn how to make your children and family safe from online predators and other inappropriate activity I urge you to google "CSI459KID dot com" and educate yourself on how to monitor your children's activities in a very non-invasive manner. It cost nothing to read, and who knows, it just may protect YOUR child from online predators, bullying, and even worse.....go ahead, take a look....I dare you
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2-11-2011 @ 5:45PM
Steven said...Simple solution is not allow your kids to have iPhones or other high-tech communications gadgets, place a firewall on your home computer (kids should NOT have computers with Internet access) which will allow your kids only to certain websites, and restrict their Internet activity to maybe an hour a day.