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March 31, 2004
A possible first in child porn
via Volokh.com: A minor has been charged with child pornography after distributing nude pictures of herself in sexual situations via chat rooms.
I don't think I have ever heard of such a thing before, and I would be interested in finding out what happens here. These laws are presumably designed to protect innocent victims of sexual exploitation. It is assumed that the perpetrator of these crimes is not innocent in any way; they sexually exploited a minor and willfully distributed pictures of them. So it stands to reason that she, even as the minor, was not innocent in posting the pictures of the minor. At least she doesn't sound lke an innocent victim to me.She wanted the pictures to be out there, and wasn't harming herself.
There is the argument that, yes, she is an innocent because it is presumed that she does not fully understand the gravity of what she has done. For example, people have children pose for these things, and they don't appear to be forced into it. They might look happy for the camera because for all they know, it's just a fun game.
Still, she broke the law. I wonder if there are versions of the law that provide for the fact that the perp is a minor.
Unrelated: Child-porn laws are not age-of-consent laws. IANAL*, but as I understand it, age of consent has nothing to do with the age at which nude and lascivious pictures of someone becomes illegal. As pointed out, in many places two 16-year-olds are allowed to have sex, and therefore see each other naked. But if one takes a picture of another, even if it weren't distributed, this is illegal because the "victim" is a minor.
*IANAL: I am not a lawyer.
Posted by JonasParker at March 31, 2004 7:54 PM
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