15 Year Old Girl Charged as Sex Offender

The people who want to criminalize this girls behavior are the ones whose marals discuss me. This new trend towards criminalizing mistakes, especially when no one has been hurt is a descent down a very steep and slippery path into the abyss of oppressive police states, the likes of which makes Orwell's 1984 look like a free society.

Since any of the articles I read didn't give any details about exactly what happened, one can only speculate. As far as the long term consequences of this, it will probably be minimal to none. Brook Shield mother had her posing in sexually suggestive poses as young as ten. She then went on to star in as a thirteen year old prostitute in a soft pron movie, followed by Blue Lagoon, which really was just another film to display the young girls body, and it never hurt her career. This all happened back at the beginning of the seventies. Jon Benet Ramsey was running around in these child beauty pageants in super tight skimpy shorts doing a burlesque number at the age of five, now that was disgusting. People who want to pretend this is something new no nothing about history. A hundred years ago, the age of consent was thirteen in the U.S.. Kids today do not grow up faster, they are more naive. In the novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest”, the main character describes how he lost his virginity at the 12 or something like that to a little 13 year old slut who gave him her dress and ran off in her underwear. I was a teenager in the seventies, and from what I have seen and know, todays kids have nothing on us, but perhaps easy access to cameras and cel phones.

I see two possible extremes to this story.

One, she more than willingly photographed herself in a manner that looks like a hustler spread, and sent the photos to several boys. If this is the case, in a few years when she turns 18 she will embark on her career as an exotic dancer, porn star, or centerfold spread depending on how good looking she is, and that should be her choice in life. Prosecuting her in this victim-less crime does no one any good, and only serves to clog up the sexual predator directory making us all less safe with the names of people who do not belong there. There is no reason to believe she will be pursuing high school boys as an adult.

The second scenario, which I think is the most likely, is that she took a very innocent photo of herself shyly standing nude in front of the camera, maybe not even totally nude, or only exposing her breasts and pubic hair, and the photo might not even qualify as child pornography. Really we need some standards on this stuff. She took the picture because her boyfriend coerced her into taking the picture. Her boyfriend is the high school super stud, who told her that if she sent him a nude photo of herself, he would take her to the senior prom. The photos were supposed to be for his eyes only, and then he distributed the pictures to his friends. If this latter is the case, if anyone should be prosecuted, it would be him, and not her. Once again we are clogging up the system with un-necessary cases.

When our criminal justice system starts prosecuting these types of crimes, it is clear that they have too many people with not enough to do, and the courts are due for some layoffs.

reply to post by JeVyonline

well surely you know some fifteen year old girl isn't trying to start a child pornography ring? are you a human being? Do you not remember that awkward weird age where everything sucks and you are not sure of anything especially yourself, i mean your hormones are going nuts and it all has to do with becoming an adult. Your body is going from caterpillar to butterfly. and she committed a crime,
get real people we have in the u.s. the highest percentage of incarcerated people in the world. We have murderers, corporate criminals(HALIBURTON anybody) and we are going to waste our time with turning this girl into a sexual predator. I know shes not going to jail were just ruining her name for 10 years

Great post. This is something people need to start paying attention to. These courts are trying to run people lives with these victim-less morality and safety crimes. Courts in the U.S. have become far too abusive of human rights. The 4th, 5th, 8th, and 14th amendments have been completely ignored. We need to start disbarring lawyers and impeaching judges on a large scale basis in this country. Anyone who has had to deal with a family court knows exactly what I am talking about.

Originally posted by poet1b
reply to post by JeVyonline

 

well surely you know some fifteen year old girl isn't trying to start a child pornography ring? are you a human being? Do you not remember that awkward weird age where everything sucks and you are not sure of anything especially yourself, i mean your hormones are going nuts and it all has to do with becoming an adult. Your body is going from caterpillar to butterfly. and she committed a crime,
get real people we have in the u.s. the highest percentage of incarcerated people in the world. We have murderers, corporate criminals(HALIBURTON anybody) and we are going to waste our time with turning this girl into a sexual predator. I know shes not going to jail were just ruining her name for 10 years

Great post. This is something people need to start paying attention to. These courts are trying to run people lives with these victim-less morality and safety crimes. Courts in the U.S. have become far too abusive of human rights. The 4th, 5th, 8th, and 14th amendments have been completely ignored. We need to start disbarring lawyers and impeaching judges on a large scale basis in this country. Anyone who has had to deal with a family court knows exactly what I am talking about.

This is classic. It is nice to see the reality of the picture so clearly written.

if two freshman in highschool see eachother naked on the phone is the same as uncle pervy then you have a sick head.

For what it's worth, I think the punishment is ridiculous. I understand their reasoning, I think it's just too much. The fact she is a foster child resonates with me. Do some of you know what happens in foster care? I shudder to think of the # of "felonies" occured while I was raised in foster care. From drug sales and use, incest, abuse, and much more, foster care can be a very bad place to be raised. There is a good chance this girl has many more problems than this being a simple prank. She should get counseling, and imo, that home should have a serious and thorough inspection. It's incredibly sad how easily foster homes get away with all sorts of crimes, and why? Because they are doing a "service" to society, and getting those kids off the street and into a "nice home."

I spent so many years after foster care with issues, brought on BY foster care. I don't know which screwed me up more.. my previous abusive families, or my foster care. So.. there may be more here than meets the eye, but you'll not see the state do anything about it. They turn a blind eye to foster homes.

reply to post by fleabit


I am intimately familiar with the foster care system myself. My mother and father started a residential foster care home when I was just a kid (I am biologically related to them). We took in many children and teenagers over the years, and most of them came from drug-addicted parents who sexually or physically abused them or neglected them. Later on it was no longer a foster care and we became a residential care home for the medically fragile. We then took care of babies and infants with severe medical conditions, as long term placements (code talk for 'they spent the night for a long time' ).

Anyways, I had a point! Ah yes... kids in foster care homes almost always had horribly abusive parents! (Sometimes they just couldn't care for them for pretty legitimate reasons, but that is rare). And the these kids/teens sometimes have to jump to a few different care homes after spending years at each one! Not good.

Also, it's true foster care homes usually are not much better then their abusive parents Ours was though! One of the few. We loved them and cared for them. Doesn't happen often in this system though. Tough life for these kids.

**edited to say: I was not meaning to talk like you didn't know this stuff. You obviously do as well with your personal experiences

[edit on 18-10-2008 by Lucid Lunacy]

Typically the homes with smaller #s of children seem to be the more solid ones, the ones who adopt a single or a pair of children seem to be the best. Simply because they are actually adopting for the children — they actually want them to raise them as if they were their own. But even then, not always so. A very good friend of mine, a Korean lass, was adopted.. and turns out, her dad had a hole drilled in the wall, and would watch her undress, etc.. and she knew it. She finally confronted him with it after finding further proof of her 'fathers' intent. She told her foster mother, who did not believe it. It's apparently taboo to even talk about it in the family. So even single-child adoption can go wrong.

I agree about the state of children in the larger foster homes, they typically have had a very rough past. I know I did, and most of the kid in our foster home did as well. We had upwards of 15 children in the home at one time. That alone can be bad. But some of the stuff that happened that just boggles my mind. They were clearly just in it 'for the money,' and I can't imagine many abusive household being worse than this place.

Funny thing is: I ran away from there once, and a few other kids in the home who got wind of it ran away with me. We were young of course, and had no firm plan in mind, and were caught after 2 days and brought back. But how much invesitgation about the reasons why we ran away were done? None at all. In fact, I told my social worker why I wanted to run away, it was a terrible place, and nothing came of it. I was not moved, and the kids were things such as "put a mark in your permanent records if you do anything like that again," to scare them out of trying.

So I am curious what sort of foster home this child is in, and why she is there. And I wonder how much if any investigation was done in regards to her home life. I doubt any at all. The reasons may be far beyond she was just being curious or 'being a teenager.' She may have been raped by a relative when younger, she may have low self esteem, there could be a myriad of reasons why. People are jumping to conclusions when they say she did it out of playful teenage curiosity, and nothing more.

I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned the new law in some areas that requires registered sex offenders to now post “no candy” signs on their doors during Halloween (or discouraging signs that warn children away) or they could be violating their parole. To read more about it click here: www.washingtontimes.com...

This is the kind of thing I fear for this child going through in her own community if she has to register as a sex offender if certain requirements like this happen in her state. Can you imagine how people would react to seeing these signs on their neighbors’ doors if they have children? One could even seek to act violently against a suspected sex offender, and all one would need to do to confirm you are one is to look it up on the internet right? Can you imagine how someone like this child would be ostracized in their community because of the assumptions people would make? Charging her as a sex offender is not only wrong, I think it could be potentially dangerous, as I’m sure it is for Maryland sex offenders, whose situation I am not aware of. For all we know one of them may have been charged, like this girl may be, due to the incompetence of the current system.

reply to post by rapinbatsisaltherage


Great update and great points

To expand on that issue. Since she is a minor, and will be for a few years now, that implies she might be living in the care of other people for a few years. Maybe this foster care home... or another. *Actually if she is registered as a sex offender of children, there will be some SERIOUS red tape around her being in care homes to begin with!!*

Anyways, if she has to put these signs out on the front door then that is affecting also everyone in that care home! You mentioned the possibility of the house being attacked as a result. Hey that's not too far fetched! So the sign could put everyone living in that care home in jeopardy as well...

[edit on 19-10-2008 by Lucid Lunacy]

www.newarkadvocate.com...

defence want the charges dropped

it also seems she had previous warnings over sending nude photos

www.newarkadvocate.com...

and yet she just carried on sending them

reply to post by Harlequin


I don't think she did it twice. Read the following:

Her alleged actions occurred about a month after Licking County Prosecutor Ken Oswalt visited LVHS and warned students against engaging in this type of behavior, as he had at other county high schools.

Now read this:

A month later the 15-year-old girl was charged for allegedly doing exactly what she was cautioned against.

A month later? I believe it's being stated that she sent the photos a month after the school visitation of Ken Oswalt. Not that she sent some and a month later sent more. Seems clear to me. Maybe I am interpreting wrong.

Also, I believe she sent more then one photo, but it was all during the first offense. There are charges for each picture, not separate charges for separate offenses.

[edit on 19-10-2008 by Lucid Lunacy]

Punishment

She pleaded deny the following Monday to one count each of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, a second-degree felony; and possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony, for the cell phone.

if convicted of a child pornography charge, could be classified as a sex offender for 20 years.

Defense

Attorney Jill Cochran said "You cannot be both the victim and the perpetrator,"

and the moment of Zen

The section of the law the girl, who is a foster child, was charged with allows parents or guardians to take photos of their unclothed children for a list of acceptable purposes but does not provide an exemption for the child themselves.

Sigh.

[edit on 19-10-2008 by Lucid Lunacy]

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy


allow me to reply in the tone you have:

if you READ

"School officials have reported to me that after my presentation at her school they specifically confronted this girl regarding concerns they had and they specifically warned her to take heed of the message she heard from my presentation," Oswalt wrote in the release. "Thus, this girl got a personal face-to-face warning of the consequences of this behavior."

then READ

She is accused of taking nude photographs of herself and sending them to others, who also might potentially face a judge for possessing pictures of a minor in a state of nudity.

you will notice that it is more than 1 photograph;

now no article gives a clear indication of any `previous` - BUT the school must have had due concern as to why they approached this girl in the first place - likely something of this nature had allready come to there attention and this was a friendly yet firm;

` look you heard how serious this really is , were not saying you are or not , but if you are taking photos and sending them - nows the time to stop`

type of conversation - IF she hadn`t taken anymore photo`s , there wouldn`t be reason to go further.

now its my best ``csi guess` that she did in fact ignore the school and carry on taking piccies of herself to impress who ever - and got caught.

reply to post by eldard


My you are a truly enlightened soul aren't you? I will bet a dollar to a dime that you have porn on your hard disk. Shame on America for trying to protect children from pedo's.

Ya and like none of them have ever pee'd in a ditch/wooded area, gone streaking, etc. Nearly every person on the face of the planet is considered a sex offender by the US laws.

Any judge who would find her guilty to that extreme needs to be relieved of the bench. What the heck, you can't spank the kid, you can't slap the kid, can't use foul language towards the kid, all you can do is say that is innapropriate stop doing it. Then when they don't jail time?

All you do is teach them to get in trouble and get locked up behind bars because then you don't have to pay for food, a place to live and the worst possible action you might get is locked in a cell by yourself. Sure kill a couple people in prison you might get the death penalty but thats a whole 20-30 years away and sense they have only been fed positive notions by negative actions they will never learn to take responsibility because if they do they have to work for it and screw that why work when you can have everything for free.

All because some judge sentenced an adolecent to jail for sending nude pictures of herself. Why aren't all the kids on the receiving end being prosacuted as well for receiving them? Are they not possesing child porn also? I think so!

Some people ought to be shot for stupidity but then we would just be considered another form of hitler. A good beating with a belt never scar'ed me for life I learned quickly that negative actions result in much more painful and negative behaviors.

in country where I live 2 years ago a guy was charged for a "childs porn" without ANY proof, just the proof could a a photo taken into the cache from the web site -

ARE YOU SURE THAT THIS GIRL ON THE PHOTO FROM BBC SITE IS over 14th ?

after this, he was not able to became to be in some NGO organisation and it was only a "war" against his participation in spending goverments money, and this NGO too

I know, ridiculous, but true in fact

She let me get this straight; she took a nude picture of herself and sent it to her peers.

While she certainly exampled a lack of common sense, is this any different from what kids see with their own eyes in a PE locker room. Or the coaches for that matter.

Are we pretending that teens ALWAYS make it out of high school as virgins?

Is it even possible to watch TV without being exposed to sexual images of some sort?

So the solution is propel this teen girl into a state of trauma. Send her to jail? Make her register as a sex offender?

Are these people on crack or are they really that stupid?

How does this compare to what the REAL sex offenders are out there doing? I am talking about the fruit loops in rain coats (on a sunny day) that offer kids a free ride to school.

Take away her cell phone and camera and don't give them back until she turns 18. It's a done deal and even THAT is overboard.

The real crime is failing to investigate why she is so interested in sexually exploiting herself?

She's a teenager. Her girlfriends have already seen her naked in the PE locker rooms. And afew boyfriends have probably seen her naked doing allot more then taking pictures.

Ridiculous.

While I don't approve of what she did by any stretch of the imagination, the adult response is mentally retarded.