Sexting

Sexting Town Hall Meeting held in Cleveland


March 19th, 2010
By Tracy Russo

In September 2009, the Department of Justice launched a year-long initiative to raise awareness around violence against women. U.S. Attorneys’ offices across the country have participated in local events, forums and media opportunities. The following post appears courtesy of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.

Recent studies have shown that approximately one in five teens have sent or received a sexually suggestive photo via text messaging, a practice known as “sexting.” What teens do not understand are the significant and long-term negative implications such risky behavior can have on them, legally, socially and psychologically. Such implications can be as simple as embarrassment or as serious as criminal liability. Most don’t realize that sending or receiving a sexually explicit picture could result in charges of production, receipt, distribution or possession of child pornography.

“Once one of these kids hits the ‘send’ button, they expose themselves and their families to a web full of hurt,” said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. “All control over the image is lost – it can be forwarded repeatedly all over the school, town, state, country and world. Sadly, such behavior has led to at least two teens taking their own lives after suffering harassment by classmates who received their nude pictures, which had been repeatedly forwarded by other classmates.”

According to Dettelbach, “The best service law enforcement offers is preventing crime.” With that in mind, on March 12, 2010, he sponsored a Town Hall Meeting to discuss the impact of this risky teen behavior. The U.S. Attorney’s Office will partner with WVIZ/PBS Ideastream to make this important program available to students around the state of Ohio.

The panel featured Juvenile Court Judge Thomas O’Malley, Berea Police Department Detective Charles Gute, and Assistant United States Attorney Michael A. Sullivan. Additionally, Robin Palmer, who heads the Mokita Center, where teens charged with “sexting” are sent for assessment and treatment, and Cristina Fernandez, from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in Alexandria, Virginia also participated.

Phizzle, a San Francisco-based company, which provides Web-based mobile platforms, donated its services for the program, which allowed students viewing the program to ask questions of the panel via text messaging and to participate in survey questions, asked throughout the show, designed to assess the scope of the problem.

Teens asked a variety of questions, including if this behavior could result in them having to register as a sex offender (it could), what kind of charges they could face (child pornography charges), whether taking a picture of baby sister in bathtub could get them in trouble (no), what to do if they receive a sext (close it and tell a trusted adult).

The panelists shared their unique perspectives on these issues, responding to numerous questions from teens in the studio audience and from other teens tuning-in at school. In the end, the overriding message to teens was clear: once they send a sexually suggestive picture via text messaging, they lose all control of the picture and subject themselves to problems at home, in school, with the law and with their future.

The program took place at the WVIZ/PBS Ideastream studios in Cleveland, where more than 100 area teens attended. Additionally, the program was broadcast via distance learning to over 50 schools across Ohio; and streamed live on the Internet, where more than 25 additional schools and organizations tuned in.

Once edited, the program will be available at www.wviz.org/distance and will be available on DVD from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.