Utah Seeks New "Sexting" Laws

It's a good thing that Utah lawmakers are looking for alternative ways to deal with teenagers distributing nude photos of themselves other than charging them with felonies, but is this a solution?

The proposed amendments sponsored by Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, would provide new legal language that makes it a third-degree felony for someone over 18 to engage in this type of behavior.

But someone who is 16 or 17 could face a class A misdemeanor. If such acts are done by someone under 16, it would be a class B misdemeanor. The idea is to take into account an individual's age, maturity and level of sophistication, which is done in other legal areas such as deciding whether to certify a juvenile into adult court. Utah should be moving to decriminalize the sending of nude images by cell phone.

Take note that these lawmakers are talking about "laws that cover distributing materials harmful to a minor and distributing pornography" and not child pornography specifically.

The adult industry freely distributes pornography over the internet to millions of people every day, undoubtedly many of them children. In targeting teenagers, Utah lawmakers are preying upon the weak and ignoring the greater problem. It's very disturbing that adults are sitting around plotting ways to charge teenagers with crimes, when all they are doing is exploring their own sexuality.

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