When nude photos of girls who attended a Baltimore County high school started showing up on a website, word quickly spread among students. Eventually a county police officer stationed in the school got a tip and started investigating, and the images were taken down. But some of the girls' parents wanted legal consequences for the boys who posted the photos.
The problem: The photos were taken by the girls themselves and consensually sent to male students _ and likely would not meet the legal definition of child pornography. Authorities determined that no legal action could be taken.
So-called sexting among teenagers _ a practice considered by some experts to be a normal part of adolescence _ is a vexing issue for law enforcement officials. Even with new laws outlawing "revenge porn" and cyberbullying, sexting is difficult to prosecute not only because youth are involved, but also because it's not necessarily illegal.
Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger said the incident "did not rise to a level of a crime, but certainly it was quite disturbing to the community and the school itself." He recounted the incident, which occurred a few years ago, to illustrate a persistent problem but declined to name the school because he didn't want to single it out.
Lt. Glen Wiedeck of the Baltimore County Police Department said the Crimes Against Children Unit estimated that the number of requests for authorities to investigate teen sexting has increased, reaching about a dozen in the past year.
Some prosecutors say their offices have pursued charges related to teen sexting, but they declined to disclose details because most cases were in juvenile court, where information is kept private.
Still, a number of incidents have attracted attention.
At Milford Mill Academy in Baltimore County this year, school officials and police investigated nude images of students posted on Instagram. They concluded that no crime had occurred because the students who could be identified in the photos were not minors.
In July, prosecutors charged a 17-year-old Edgewater boy with distribution and possession of child pornography after investigators alleged that he posted sexually explicit photos _ many were selfies taken by high school girls _ to Instagram.
Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said that case made it to court because the photos depicted minors engaging in sexual activity. She declined to discuss the case further because the boy is a juvenile.
"It's rare _ very, very rare _ that we have these kind of cases that actually get to court," she said.
Shellenberger said in many cases the victims _ whose photos are posted online or shared on cellphones _ have technically broken the law, too. They produced child pornography.
"You want to argue to a judge or a (juvenile) master that this is a crime," Shellenberger said. "And yet, it was the victim who started it. "It's really a murky area."
Teen sexting has put law enforcement in the position of applying child pornography laws, which are somewhat subjective and carry hefty penalties, in cases involving victims as well as perpetrators who are young and often naive.
"You need to take (sexting) seriously because of the damage that these images can do to the child's reputation," said Jennifer Ritter, a senior assistant state's attorney in Howard County who prosecutes sex offenses involving juveniles.
At the same time, discretion to prosecute "is important because you're dealing with immature minds and immature decision-making," she said. Legally, child pornography depicts a minor in a state of sexual excitement, engaged in a sexual act, or posed in an explicit manner.
"Simply having a naked picture of someone under 18 is not a crime," Leitess said. "A naked selfie is not pornography, just like a picture of a child on the beach running into the ocean without clothes on is not pornography."
Maryland lawmakers approved the measure outlawing revenge porn _ an instance when someone posts a person's intimate pictures online without his or her permission _ this year. And Grace's Law, approved in 2013, strengthened state harassment laws to address cyberbullying.
Under both laws, prosecutors say they must prove that the perpetrator's intent was malicious _ a high bar.
Teen sexting has become ever more commonplace. Psychologist Jeff Temple, a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston who has studied sexting, found two years ago that nearly 70 percent of girls have been asked to send a nude photo of themselves. Boys were much more likely to ask for a nude photo than girls were, according to the 2012 study.
"If you have a teenage girl, chances are she has been asked to send a naked picture of herself," Temple said.
And in a study released last month, Temple found that sexting usually precedes sexual activity. So while discovering sexting among teens can be alarming, it also can present an opportunity for parents to talk to their children about sex, he said.
Some experts say the legal system often isn't the appropriate venue for addressing teen sexting.
Police and prosecutors "really do not have the resources to chase after sexting cases," said Bob Lotter, creator of a parental monitoring app called My Mobile Watchdog, which allows parents to block websites and see whom their kids are communicating with on their smartphones. Lotter said parents have a responsibility to monitor their children's technology use.
"We do need to do something about it, but criminalizing child behavior _ I would think most people would agree it's not the way to go," he said. Adam Rosenberg, executive director of the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, also said parents have a key role to play. "We have to teach children about the appropriate boundaries. We need to be spending more time educating our children on the power of these devices."
School officials have gotten involved. In Baltimore, Howard and Anne Arundel counties, officials said sexting and related issues, such as cyberbullying, are addressed in age-appropriate "digital citizenship" curricula.
"We try to counsel students and how to maintain your privacy," said Baltimore County school safety director Dale Rauenzahn.
(c)2014 The Baltimore Sun
