New Jersey Girl Posts Nude Photos Of Herself, Gets Probation

TRENTON, N.J. — A 14-year-old New Jersey girl who posted nude pictures of herself on MySpace.com will have child pornography counts dropped.

The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office says the girl must undergo at least six months of counseling and probation and must stay out of trouble. If she does, all charges will be dropped.

The Clifton teen was initially arrested and charged with possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. If convicted on those counts, she could have been required to register as a sex offender.

Comments

[Frenbar]

I think almost everyone can agree that these sort of arrests are completely assinine.

If this girl looks in the mirror after taking a shower, she's looking at a naked teenage girl, is that a crime?

What's even more outrageous, is that extremely scare taxpayer resources are being squandered on cases like this. How many people get sub-standard public representation or have to sit in a cell waiting to see a judge because public resources and attorneys are wasted on garbage like this?

This prosecutor should be immediately fired.

[zukervati]

WTF? That's called privacy, you can do whatever you want in your bathroom, but as soon as you open yourself to the internet you're in public. Not only the EULA of the website where you post applies, but the laws of the land apply as well.
Arrest and bearing down on her are indeed questionable and If anyone should've been arrested, it should've been her parents for being negligent.

[jcwtts1]

Thank you. I was about to say Are you fing crazy. We can't have 14 year old girls, who for a brief time are as stupid as boys, sending naked pictures of herself anywhere. sexting is a real problem, first, you can't erase a pic on the internet. It will be there forever. Do you think 14 year olds understand that. Do you think they see that when they are 35 and have daughters of their own, or apply for jobs and someone does a google search of her face (which will be possible then) her naked sexting pics will pop up. Do you think she gets that? Do you think she understands that it makes her about a billion percent less safe than she was the day before? That sexual predators already scouring the internet for child porn and that there is enough info on the typical home page to find a person? Give me a break. These laws aren't perfect but they exist for a reason and they are no where near tough enough. Child porn, the exploitation of children..­. we are fight against a sea of insane dangerous people and only black and white laws, stronger penalties and in my opinion no parole, ever, will help in the battle.

[PostModernPatriot]

"What's even more outrageous, is that extremely scare taxpayer resources are being squandered on cases like this."

EXACTLY! The real sacred cow in this country when it comes to budget cuts is not Social Security and Medicare.

It's the ever-growing, all encompassing prison system.

Taxpayers need to take a good hard look at how their dollars are being squandered prosecuting & jailing people for minor, petty crimes, things that WERE NEVER crimes until ten years ago and things that are only "technically" crimes.

[machivellianX]

out of any civilized society we have the highest ratio of people in prisons. With the war on drugs, and now the war on people downloading images to a computer I can only see the prison population increasing.

We need to reform the laws to better reflect an economy that will collapse under it's own weight if not changed. Clearly we are on a path of non sustainability. I would like to see resources spent on something positive like health care, and maintaining social security..­...

[JulezSD]

I second that!!!

[ShoreSage]

Probation???!!! How about a spanking and sending her to her room without dinner?? It is unbelievable that prosecutors use a law intended to protect minors from others to punish them for being stupid.

[Foxnewsisajoke]

Just make sure she puts her clothes back on first.

[proudandtrue]

The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office will also charge Manet and Michaelangelo for paintings of nude youths and posting them in museums.

[cybersaur]

How 'bout if the government just decriminalizes being human? We've had just about enough puritanism.
Don't violate morality laws against nudity or the American basij will come after you!

[prog]

Nudity is fine.

Exploitation of a child is not fine.

Get it straight.

[Jaywalkker]

The states need to start passing new legislation regarding sexting and its related ilk. I understand why the only way to charge this is pedophilia or child pornography, but everyone from police, to judges, to lawyers understand the teens intentions are not equal to those actions. Give them a public urination rap or some similar.

[kraftmatic]

The problem is overzealous prosecutors seeking to inflate their conviction records. And in some states, a public urination rap will earn you a spot on the sex offenders list.

[Jaywalkker]

True 'dat. I hail from the DFW metroplex of north Texas. DNA evidence here has exonerated so many people that currently Dallas is neck'n'neck with Houston over which DA's office apparently prosecuted more people unjustly.

I just used public urination of what I deemed a "harmless" crime that received a mild punishment.

[amdezurik]

ok, those charges were nuts

[JZ735]

Sometimes the legal eages need to just back off...the world has become a truly nutty place.