Aug. 16, 2014, 11:00 p.m. CT
Jennifer Schiffman, who works on a state task force to prevent internet crimes against children, asked sixth graders at Republic Middle School to close their eyes and raise a hand if they had ever been asked for a digital nude photo of themselves. About a third of the students, mostly 12 years old, raised a hand.
She asked the same question of the school’s eighth graders. This time just over half raised a hand, says Gen Nelson, a sixth-grade counselor at the school.
Schiffman, who spoke at the school in October, did not ask how many actually sent nude or semi-nude digital pics of themselves. Unfortunately, Nelson says, it’s not unusual for children so young to do so.
“It is a lot more prevalent than parents want to accept or realize,” Nelson says. “They don’t want to imagine their babies sending out these racy pictures. We need to be aware of it and parents need to be watching for it.”
Not only are more young teens sending nude photos via their smart phones, but a surprising number are having sexual intercourse at a young age, according to Dustin Hathcock, a deputy juvenile officer at the Green County Juvenile Justice Center.
“I deal with that all the time,” he says. He estimates that 75 percent of his caseload involves teens under 17 having consensual sex with other teens. (In Missouri, anyone 17 or older is an adult. Anyone younger than 14 is not old enough to give consent and therefore, by definition, sex with a child under 14 is rape.)
Regarding sexting, Hathcock says, young people don’t realize that hitting “send” can have lifelong consequences. A nude photo can lessen their chances years later of getting into college or obtaining a good job.
Bill Prince, one of three county attorneys in juvenile court, does not recall a petition involving sexting in juvenile court — although such cases do come up occasionally. They typically are reviewed without a petition being filed. A petition in juvenile court is the equivalent of a “charge” filed in adult court.
“What we see more often is two juveniles sending naked pictures of each other,” he says. “Is that a criminal offense or is that just two kids being incredibly stupid?
“We have taken the position that a lot of this seems to be educational as opposed to criminal justice.”
The big picture, Prince says, is that the cases he sees in juvenile court are trending more toward sex.
“We are seeing more and more sexualized behavior in general,” he says. “The reasons are myriad. Social media has played a huge role.
“Kids carry around these cameras in their pockets these days,” he says. “And now, some of these cell phones have more computer power than the original computers.”
A sexting problem
Schiffman is a prevention specialist with the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. She estimates 30 to 40 percent of children in any given school have seen inappropriate sexting photos of genitals or someone nude or partially nude.
“I have only been to one school in four years in the state of Missouri that said that sexting is not a problem,” she says, adding that she estimates that 40 percent of girls 12 to 17 have been asked for a nude or a semi-nude photo of themselves.
As early as fourth grade, she says, she knows of boys sending photos of themselves with their shirts off to girls and girls who are 10 years old returning photos of themselves wearing make-up.
In fifth grade, she says, boys are asking girls for bra-and-panty shots.
“Boys can become very aggressive in sixth grade,” she says. “There are repeated requests.
“In some cases, boys will threaten the girl that if they don’t receive a picture they will simply find a nude photo and put the girl’s head on the body,” Schiffman says.
Contrary to what many might think, neither sexting nor consensual sex involving two juveniles is likely to land a young teen in jail, or in the juvenile detention center or on the sex offender registry, according to Schiffman.
“I do not personally know of a case of that happening,” she adds.
But not all cases are the same, Prince says. He would take a harsher look at instances where someone is bullied, harassed, blackmailed or where one person takes advantage of another due to mental handicap or, for example, intoxication.
Peer pressure
Nelson, the counselor in Republic, says a main reason a 12-year-old would send a nude photo is because of peer pressure.
“It could be a strong desire to fit in,” she adds. “In sixth grade they are moving into a new building and there’s pressure to be cool. And there’s pressure to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a significant other.”
Erica Manahan, director of the Regional Support Center at Community Partnership of the Ozarks, says many young people mistakenly believe that a revealing photo sent via Snapchat will automatically disappear — which is how the app works — after a few seconds. The sender can set the life of the photo from 1 to 10 seconds after it’s opened.
What they fail to realize, Nelson says, is that the recipient can take a screen shot and give the image a new life that can lead to dire consequences.
If the photo goes to Facebook, she says, even if taken down it is stored by Facebook and years later can be unearthed by law enforcement with a search warrant.
Most instances of teen sexting come to light when a parent picks up their child’s ringing or buzzing phone and opens a message.
Parents should actively search the smart phone of their pre-teens and young teens, Nelson says.
“A lot of parents hesitate going through their child’s phone because they don’t want to violate their privacy,” she says. “But they need to. They are paying for that phone. They have the right to search it and they should.”
Should a parent find a pornographic image, don’t delete it because it might later be needed by law enforcement, particularly if it’s a faceless photo of genitals that could have been sent by an adult living anywhere in the world, says Schiffman, who is on the state task force.
Many dangers
A nude photo might bounce its way through cyberspace and land in the lap of a child predator or in the hands of a child pornographer, who might replicate and and sell it, says David Snider, a crime prevention officer with the Springfield Police Department. The predator might even try to track down, for example, the real 14-year-old girl who decided to send a picture of herself with her top off, he says.
“A responsible person who receives anything like this needs to bring it to the attention of law enforcement,” Snider says.
Stephanie Wan is an assistant Greene County prosecuting attorney who has specialized in sex crimes. She cannot recall an instance where a juvenile was charged in adult court for sexting a nude image to another juvenile.
Hathcock, the deputy juvenile officer, says most young people who end up in juvenile court for having sexual intercourse under 17 were initially reported through the Children’s Division hotline. The calls are anonymous.
Consequences in juvenile court for sexting or underage sexual intercourse range from a warning, Hathcock says, and informal probation where, for example, the person cannot have a cell phone or must be supervised when with other juveniles. Harsher penalties come when a petition is filed and the young person could be sentenced to a juvenile detention center until age 21.
Hathcock says that over time the interpretation and enforcement of Missouri laws on underage sexual intercourse has broadened and, at times, morphed into bewildering legal possibilities.
He doubts the intent of the law regarding age of consent (14) was intended to make a criminal of a 14-year-old boy having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
In the above example, he adds, the boy could be charged with a felony for having sex with a girl under 14 and the girl, oddly enough, could be charged with a misdemeanor for molesting a boy under 17.
The bottom line is that teenagers are clueless in these matters, he says.
“I don’t think kids have any idea what the law is,” he says. “And in my experience, parents don’t either.”
By the numbers
• 14,502 sex offenders on the current Missouri Sex Offender Registry.
• 487 sex offenders on the registry, or 3.4 percent, are females.
• 164 sex offenders have been removed from the Missouri Sex Offender Registry since removal provisions were created in 2007.
• 38 juveniles are on the Juvenile Sex Offender list in Greene County. This list is not public.
• 21 and 17 Statutory rape in the second degree, a felony, occurs when a person 21 or older has sex with someone under 17.
• 17 The age when a juvenile becomes an adult in Missouri.
• 14 Statutory rape in the first degree, a felony, occurs when one of the people having sex is under age 14.
Fact or fiction?
Can someone be placed on the Missouri Sex Offender Registry for being seen while urinating in public?
Yes, but only under the following specific circumstances, described in Missouri law, according to Stephanie Wan, an assistant Greene County prosecutor. The offense is sexual misconduct involving a child, a felony. The sex-offender registry covers felonies, not misdemeanors.
Regarding public urination, sexual misconduct involving a child might occur when a person exposes his or her genitals to a child under age 15 knowing that the conduct is likely to “cause affront or alarm” to the child or does so “for the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of any person, including the child.”
The law covers the same conduct via the internet or other electronic means and specifically states that the law applies even when it’s a police officer masquerading as a minor online.
