Teen prosecuted for having naked photos of himself

[Homer]

A teenage boy in North Carolina has been prosecuted for having nude pictures of himself on his own mobile phone.

Cormega Copening, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was prosecuted as an adult under federal child pornography felony laws, for sexually exploiting a minor. The minor was himself, and was therefore simultaneously the adult perpetrator who is considered a predator and the minor victim who needs protecting by the law.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... ne-selfies


What the hell?? The kid was prosecuted for sexually exploiting himself? He was the perp and the victim?

Should people be prosecuted for having naked pictures of themselves on their own phone?

[Motown]

I wish this were an isolated case but it's not. There are two schools I know of where I live that have had the same scenario play out. Someone will share a picture of someone else without their permission which of course leads to a complaint, as it should. The next thing you know our slimy weasel social conservative types in those districts decide they're going to capitalize on it and the cops end up searching every student's phone instead of only dealing with the known offenders. I have as many concerns over how these searches are conducted and justified as I do over illegal picture sharing.

[exploited]

Just prepping them for unlawful search and seizure later in life.

[Indy]

I was wondering how long it would take this story to arrive here--almost posted it myself, but still can't wrap my head around how you can be prosecuted for victimizing yourself.

It's the ultimate example of heinous gov't overreach--so, what? They're just looking out for your best interests, protecting you from... you? It takes the "Think of the CHILDREN!" meme to a new bizarre level: "We need to protect our children--from themselves when they were children!"

Buuuuuuuut then you look and see: North Carolina and of course when you are in a place where "social conservatism" and Bible-throwing fundies run the show, this is the kind of thing they live for and especially when it comes to sex.

[The dane]

The truly absurd thing is that he was above the age of consent in his state, so it would be perfectly legal for him to be naked with his girlfriend while having sex with her, but illegal for him to take a naked picture of himself afterwards.

It's also worth noting that noone knew about him having the picture, and it was not shared with anyone else. So there was no problem whatsoever prior to the authorities getting involved, but now his name and the name of his girlfriend are public, so everyone knows about this so-called child pornography.

To sum up: There was no victim to begin with, then the authorities charged him with a crime against himself, and now he actually is a victim because of their actions.

[Indy]

Yup. The way you put it, that's exactly what happened in the end.

[spacemonkey]

Sometimes the law should be aginst the law. All he had to say is he was one of those homo's, then no problem.

[Libertarian602]

This lack of common sense borders on criminality itself.

[The Comrade]

Our justice system uses discretion all the time yet whenever these cases come up it seems perfectly willing to follow the letter of the law to the most extreme and stupid consequences.

[Dylan]