Bill targets youth who send ‘sexts’
Richards’ proposal would lessen penalty
for sending sexually explicit messages
A new form of sexual exploration has grabbed the attention of Kentucky lawmakers.State Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, has introduced legislation that could lessen the penalty for minors who “sext” - sending sexually explicit pictures or text messages with a cell phone.Currently, teenagers who are caught sexting can only be charged with crimes usually used in child pornography cases.“Sometimes kids or young people, not realizing the long-term damage they’re doing, can take pictures of people and publish them or send them out to others,” Richards said. “We wanted to do this in a way that would be a punishment but not a lifelong taint.”House Bill 57 would make it a simple violation for minors to send a nude picture of themselves or another minor on the first offense, and a misdemeanor for each subsequent offense.Richards’ bill comes after several instances in other states involving serious punishment for sexting. One case in Florida left a sexter a registered sex offender for the next 25 years after he sent nude pictures of his 16-year-old girlfriend to friends after an argument. This is the kind of scenario Richards is hoping to avoid.Legislation regarding sexting was introduced in at least 11 states in 2009, with six passing the bills, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
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