Teen Girls Cleared of Child Pornography Charges

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About a year ago, three girls fought charges of child pornography -- of themselves -- for refusing to attend 10-hour class on pornography and sexual violence after they were arrested for taking pictures of themselves en deshabille.

Now, the district court not only barred the district attorney from initiating any criminal charges against the girls, but criticized the district attorney’s reliance on the girls’ presence in the photographs as a basis for the potential charges, noting that their presence did not prove they possessed or transmitted the photo, according to an article in the New York Times.

However, the Third Circuit Court did not address the issue of whether taking and transmitting the pictures could be considered free speech, according to an in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The case was the first appeals case to address whether free-speech law protected "sexting" -- sending sexually explicit messages or photos to cell phones.

The district attorney had told a group of parents and students that he had the authority to prosecute girls photographed in underwear, like the three girls, or even in a bikini on the beach, because the photos were "provocative," according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the girls and their mothers before the appeals court.

In general, however, states are starting to move away from such draconian laws, according to a different article in the New York Times. "Last year, Nebraska, Utah and Vermont changed their laws to reduce penalties for teenagers who engage in such activities, and this year, according to the National Council on State Legislatures, 14 more states are considering legislation that would treat young people who engage in sexting differently from adult pornographers and sexual predators," the Times said. Instead, some of the 14 states are considering making sexting a misdemeanor or a juvenile offense.

"It just doesn’t make sense that in a lot of the sexting situations, the pornographer and the victim are one and the same person," the Times quoted Amy Adler, a law professor at New York University, as saying.

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As summarized, the dispute reached the federal courts as Miller v. Skumanick (appeal styled Miller v. Mitchell). The Third Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction that barred the district attorney from prosecuting the three girls; the court found the DA’s threatened prosecutions were retaliatory and that the record contained no evidence tying the girls to possession or transmission of the photos. The district court had earlier issued the restraining order, and the ACLU represented the families. (yalelawtechdotorg.files.wordpress.com)

Key legal points worth highlighting for readers returning to this thread years later: appearing in a photograph is not the same thing as possessing or distributing it — the court emphasized that presence in an image alone does not establish probable cause to prosecute. The opinion also held that forcing students to attend a DA‑designed “re‑education” program and write essays about why their actions were wrong would amount to compelled speech and interfere with parental rights. The ruling was deliberately narrow and did not resolve whether taking or sending such images is protected First Amendment expression. (yalelawtechdotorg.files.wordpress.com)

Practical context: the decision checked overt prosecutorial overreach (as applauds), but it did not eliminate school discipline, civil exposure, or state legislative responses. After 2009–2011 many states enacted or considered statutes creating juvenile‑level or misdemeanor alternatives to treating peer sexting as child pornography; related Fourth Amendment and school‑search issues have produced separate litigation (ACLU and others brought cases about phone searches). For any contemporary incident, the controlling law depends on the state and on recent cases — check the current statutes and case law or consult counsel. (aclupa.org)

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happygeek 2,411 Most Valuable Poster

Hooray for sensible district courts. You might think that a lawmaker or enforcer would sit back and consider how stupid they are being once in a while.

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