"... The law is a great teacher and if you crack down on a few of these kids, the rest will stop sexting. ..."
Pat Trueman, former head of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Enforcement Section

April 16, 2009

A great concern is brewing around sexting. Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between cell phones.

If you read a newspaper - even on just a rare occasion - you have read these tragic news accounts of teenagers who have photographed themselves nude or partially nude and sent it to a boyfriend and it almost inevitably gets circulated throughout the school and beyond.

In Cincinnati, an 18-year-old died by suicide after the naked picture of herself which she sexted was forwarded to nearly everyone in her high school.

Vermont lawmakers introduced a bill recently to legalize the consensual exchange of graphic images between two people 13 to 18 years old. Passing along such images to others would remain a crime.

It's important that we not be taken in by mere emotions as we don't like to see youth penalized during their adolescence knowing that many will later have the maturity to see how inane their decision making was at that period of their lives.

Pat Trueman, former head of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Enforcement Section at the Justice Department under the Reagan and George H. Bush administrations offered this vital perspective.

I urge you to read it. It will help you understand why Vermont's initative would be terrible law eroding socital mores that have been set in place to protect our young people from immoral choices that will undermine health, safety, spirituality and general well-being.

Quoting Pat Trueman:

Below is an article from OneNewsNow quoting me on the problem of “sexting.” The latest on the issue is that the Vermont legislature is considering legalizing sexting for under-18 kids. Think about it: they want to legalize the production of child pornography by children!

Vermont legislators are using a cannon rather than a pistol to solve the problem of sexting. The strongest argument for a change in the law is that kids caught sexting may have to register as sex offenders for life under Vermont law? So why not remove the Vermont requirement to list the kids in the sex registry for sexting rather than decriminalize the act. Something more is involved here. Kids today lack discipline and thus they do as they please. They are steeped in pornography because parents do not use porn-blocking software and thus kids have developed an “anything goes” attitude regarding pornography. Better education, espoused by many, is a good idea but that is just part, a small part, of the solution. Kids involved in sexual relations and photographing or videotaping their sexual activities need to know their actions are wrong and that there are consequences to their actions. Face it; few such sexually active, child porn producing kids will change their actions merely because mommy warns them. Child pornography laws need to be vigorously enforced against them and all producers and distributors of child pornography. The Vermont legislature is on the wrong course. If they legalize child pornography production by teens, they will only succeed in encouraging the practice. Are they afraid to have the laws enforced? Underage teens would not likely be charged as adults but rather dealt with in juvenile courts and will not, thus, spend years in prison. Yet they will, however, suffer for their harmful actions and then others will know to stop the practice. Shouldn’t that be the goal, to stop sexting?

Child pornography production is, after all, a very serious matter. Under federal law, it is punished by “not less than 15 years nor more than 30 years” imprisonment for adults. Mere possession of child porn is even a felony. That represents society’s judgment on the gravity of the matter.

For almost 30 years federal and state laws against child pornography have been stiffened not weakened, as Vermont intends to do. Law enforcement agencies are overwhelmed with the task of stopping it. Untold millions of dollars are spent on their efforts. Yet, Vermont will contribute to the problem.

What are these kids going to be like as adults? If the production of child pornography is fine until their 18th birthday, will they suddenly stop the practice and destroy collected material? Vermont should not pretend that cell phone child porn that is created will be contained. We know that much cell phone child pornography is traded among friends in the schools or to complete strangers and very often ends up on the World Wide Web. >From there is gets in the hands of sex abusers and fuels illicit desires and illegal actions. Is that what is bargained for at the time of production by those involved in sexting? Hardly! What of those in the images who want the material returned or destroyed to avoid future embarrassment? They are out of luck. Their pictures may be traded indefinitely and may come back to haunt them. They may be used to blackmail them into doing things they would not do otherwise. Yes, child pornography is a serious matter. Can the Vermont legislature seriously consider legitimizing its creation? Patrick Trueman
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=489510

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Pat Trueman featured speaker for ADA summer conference July 24,25.

With these words, we announce an important opportunity to hear one of America’s most influential anti-pornography leaders. Mr. Pat Trueman needs no introduction to those of us who have been in the fight against the onslaught of pornography since the late 1980s leading right up to the present time.

As an attorney, he led a core of other Federal Prosecutors to put behind bars some of America’s pornography “kingpins” including Reuben Sturman who was known as the number 1 pornography “kingpin” in the United States.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR JULY 24, 25 and look for the specifics to follow in the weeks and months ahead!

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