15 Year Old Girl Charged as Sex Offender

I have read this entire thread this morning, and I am shocked at the lack of common sense being applied here.

The "Law" is about justice, or at least it should be. The old saying that laws are meant to be broken is really about the intersection between a "set in stone" law and the fact that justice can never be fully incorporated into a "one size fits all" code of conduct. (The New Testament of the Christian Bible addresses this issue in some depth.)

There are those in any society that for whatever reason want laws to be immutable. But humans, and their varied actions, are too messy for such an idea to ever be practical. It is the duty of we the people to use common sense in those areas where shades of gray must be plumbed to reach justice.

As an example, it is illegal to steal. Yet, we have sense enough to know that a child stealing a candy bar, even if they knew it to be morally wrong, isn't the same thing as a robber taking someone's wallet on a street corner. We judge this due to the offender's age. It's wrong, and they knew it was wrong, but we as a society don't hold them to the same standards as an adult.

Here we have a youth, 14, who committed an act that would be a serious crime for an adult. But, because of their age and lack of life experience, we ought not hold them to the same standards as an adult of 40 years.

And in the context of the case itself, how can the 14 year old be a minor as the victim of child pornography, (it was a picture of a minor that is the crux of this case) and also be guilty as the perpetrator of the crime? If the 14 year old is an adult in the eyes of the law by sending the picture, then she can't also be a minor in relation to the picture itself. By the same token, the juveniles who received this picture cannot be given adult status for the cause of charging them, and yet at the same time be seen as children receiving porn.

With the idea of justice, as opposed to law, then all involved need to be seen as adults, in which case no law was broken, or all seen as children, in which case the same standards used for adults is not applicable. It is idiocy to try to have it both ways.

And please, refrain from telling me how this picture could/would end up in the possession of a pedophile. His act of obtaining the pictures would be where a separate incident would began. Nor is it morally justifiable to use the "intent" of a child, whatever it might be, as legal grounds for prosecution, because if the person is a child, as would have to be the view for it to be child porn, then they are not legally able to differentiate right from wrong enough for such an idea to have validity.

Now, as a human being, I clearly see the "wrong" in her actions, and in no way think she ought be excused from consequences. But the punishment here should/must be in accordance with her age and/or legal status. If she's an adult, then there was no child porn, and if she is a child, then her legal status must be protected the same as we protect any other child.

As a "people" and "in this thread" I'll comment.

I am NOT for just ignoring it. Her behavior needs to be looked at closely; she may need intense counseling over this, and the underlying causes. I agree that she needs to have more than her cell phone removed.

However, you and others have to make up your mind if she's a child or an adult. Either she is or she isn't. There's no such thing as being a little pregnant.

And the sickening part would be to act like the "law" is for deciding right and wrong/degree of guilt. Logic says that you can't be both victim and perpetrator. I understand your disgust at this action. But charging her with a crime doesn't solve the problem. (It may make enough headlines for the prosecutor to become governor though.) I even agree that a crime has been committed. I just fail to see justice in tagging her as a felon, thereby insuring reduced chances of gainful employment in the future, the right to hold sensitive jobs, or even to vote.

(On a side note, maybe TPTB want everyone tagged as a felon so only they and their cronies can vote. That's a surefire way to make a dictatorship.)