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Policy

15-Year-Old Arrested, Jailed for Nude Cell Phone Photos of Herself

Radley Balko | 10.10.2008 10:26 AM

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What a dumb waste of resources.

The judge has some discretion, here, but by the letter of the law, she could be forced to register as a sex offender for 20 years.

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Radley Balko is a journalist at The Washington Post.

PolicyCultureSexCriminal Justice
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  1. brotherben   17 years ago

    Licking Valley High? tee hee

  2. Episiarch   17 years ago

    If she masturbates, can they arrest her for child molestation? Rape?

  3. burnt bridges   17 years ago

    We need more criminals. Felony offender, likely to plead out, will lose right to vote, right to guns, opportunities, and will wear the scarlet letter S for sexual criminal.

    goddam idiots but not the first or last times.

  4. brotherben   17 years ago

    Cell phones shold be illegal. If she didn't have access to a celly, she never would have become a pedo.

  5. TallDave   17 years ago

    Heh, recursive jailbait.

  6. anarch   17 years ago

    During assemblies, [Prosecutor] Oswalt talked about the dangers, both in personal embarrassment

    Which he's just helped her narrowly to escape, thank goodness.

    possession of criminal tools

    A description better applied to certain government agents.

  7. Elemenope   17 years ago

    Who the fuck is the complaining witness?

  8. rana   17 years ago

    While the punishment is too harsh, this girl really is an idiot...

  9. SugarFree   17 years ago

    Ele,

    Some flat-chested chick in her class, I bet.

  10. New World Dan   17 years ago

    It seems there have been quite a few of these stories in the last few weeks. This is a funny way of protecting teenagers from themselves. When I was 15, if you wanted to see a girl's tits, you had to get her drunk first. (git off my lawn)

  11. ed   17 years ago

    If she masturbates, can they arrest her for child molestation?

    Girl: Hold it! Next man makes a move, the slut gets it!
    Prosecutor: Hold it, men. She's not bluffing.
    Defense attorney: Listen to him, men, she's just crazy enough to do it!
    Girl: Drop it! Or I swear I'll blow this slut's head all over this town!

  12. brotherben   17 years ago

    NWD, get her drunk? Thats disgusting. I found it much easier just to say, "I love you."

  13. Lamar   17 years ago

    "State Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, wrote the state's Megan's Law bill, the predecessor of the Adam Walsh Act, and said this case was not something the legislature envisioned."

    Funny how when you write over-broad and ill conceived legislation "for the children", it tends to get applied where you didn't intend.

  14. lurker with an aging child and   17 years ago

    Now I know who brotherben is.

  15. Episiarch   17 years ago

    NWD, get her drunk? Thats disgusting. I found it much easier just to say, "I love you."

    You could always do both. Might get you farther than 2nd base.

  16. SugarFree   17 years ago

    Not going after New World Dan, but...

    There does seem to be a buried streak of "Damn kids have it too easy these days" about a lot of these stories. Just because your girlfriend in 10th grade didn't email you dirty pictures is not a reason to criminalize it now.

    The kid did something stupid and it's public. Her sufficient punishment is the certain knowledge that one or two mouth-breathing cops whacked it in the station to a blurry pic of her breasts.

  17. The Wine Commonsewer   17 years ago

    Stevo Darkly's on her Fave Five I bet. 😉

  18. Episiarch   17 years ago

    There does seem to be a buried streak of "Damn kids have it too easy these days" about a lot of these stories

    100% agreement. Adults always seem to think the latest generation is having rainbow parties and orgies on the bus, and many seem to be pissed about it, because they feel like they missed out or something. And then they take it out on anyone who gives them an opportunity.

    Sexual frustration can be an ugly thing.

  19. troy   17 years ago

    This just goes to show you can be a complete fucking idiot and still make through law school, get vetted by the character and fitness.
    What if she does have to register?
    Did I say how fucking stupid this is?

    The real fucking perverts are the prosecutors. Plus when they show the pictures to the jury, they are going to distribute MORE of these pictures. Bet those fucking pigs and prosecutors keep a couple copies for themselves.

    Fucking pigs.

  20. Bingo   17 years ago

    Before technology and internets, everything was like in the old black and white sitcoms. It's this darn technology thats corrupting our youth!

  21. John   17 years ago

    This girl is in jail for exposing bullshit not her tits. The jihad against child porn is based on the idea that every child is irreparably victimized if someone sees them naked and thinks lustful thoughts. Here we have a minor who not only isn't damaged but also seems to enjoy it. She is also 15 which is a really uncomfortable age for our society. There is not just the bullshit that any picture of a naked child is automatically the worst thing ever, there is also the bullshit that a 15 year old is just like a 10 year old sexually. None of this can be true. She make the mistake of exposing a whole lot of bullshit that has been flying around over the last 40 years in this country. She must be punished for it.

  22. troy   17 years ago

    If she masturbates, can they arrest her for child molestation? Rape?

    Please, Do not give this particularly heinous species of idiot called the Juris Doctor any ideas, please.

  23. P Brooks   17 years ago

    Thank goodness! The "financial meltdown" is apparently over, and we can go back to worrying about partially developed titties and missing PartayGurlz.

  24. J sub D   17 years ago

    Cell phones are "criminal tools"? Who elects the morons that enact nonsense laws like this?* If a 15 year old paints a nude self portrait, are the brushes "criminal tools"?
    Photocopying her butt, the Xerox machine?

    *I know, I know. The American citizens.
    *sigh*

  25. Episiarch   17 years ago

    J sub, I would say that the prosecutor and cops in this case are criminal tools.

  26. a pervert   17 years ago

    Pics, or it did not happen.

  27. P Brooks   17 years ago

    If I call my broker and short General Motors, does that make my cellphone a criminal tool?

    *Actually, I think Rick Wagoner is a "criminal tool". And I do not even own shares in GM.

  28. J sub D   17 years ago

    Epi,
    You can't go soft on child nudity. It's a crime! There's always an election coming up.

    I'll wager the D.A.was elected. 50/50 says he'll win if he runs again.

  29. Jim Bob   17 years ago

    "What we're aiming at was a growing problem that we were seeing amongst juveniles and that was they were committing some very serious adult-like crimes," [Hottinger] said.

    Having sexual feelings: an adult-like crime.

  30. Kolohe   17 years ago

    Before technology and internets, everything was like in the old black and white sitcoms. It's this darn technology thats corrupting our youth!

    To be fair, if you you back far enough, the world was in black and white. Didn't turn color until sometime in the 30's.

  31. Atabrat   17 years ago

    My officemate has a naked picture of his newborn baby on his desk RIGHT NOW. Is there a hotline I can call?

  32. Kolohe   17 years ago

    Oh, and the article is useless without pics.

    (oh, so *that's* what brimstone smells like)

  33. Kolohe   17 years ago

    damn, a pervert beat me to it.

  34. Boston   17 years ago

    Thats what they said about the 15 year old girl

  35. John   17 years ago

    A guy a work with has a two year old who occasionally runs through the house naked when company is there. Exposing yourself and having a minor run around naked in public is a serous adult crime. They clearly need to lock the kid up.

  36. pedo   17 years ago

    You can't go soft on child nudity.

    Too easy.

  37. R C Dean   17 years ago

    You can't go soft on child nudity. It's a crime! There's always an election coming up.

    Props to J sub D for a nice pair of double entendres!

  38. Ska   17 years ago

    damn, a pervert beat me to it.

    Lucky bastard, I had to beat myself to the last pic of a topless 15 year old I had.

    bud-dum-cha

  39. ktc2   17 years ago

    Have to agree with John @ 11:05.

    These cases are about preserving the lies at all costs.

  40. The Angry Optimist   17 years ago

    Man, Ohio is making me proud every time I turn around.

    I'm starting to hate this state...does anybody live in Vegas? *asks dreamily*: What's it like?

  41. brotherben   17 years ago

    Atabrat, I seem to recall a case from 10-15 years ago about a bodybuilder being prosecuted for a pic of him shirtless, holding his naked baby son.

  42. JW   17 years ago

    I'm starting to hate this state...does anybody live in Vegas? *asks dreamily*: What's it like?

    I have a decent shot at a non-gambling related job in Vegas with an old boss of mine. The missus will probably put the kibosh on it though. :::sigh:::

  43. Bronwyn   17 years ago

    Well that's odd. Yesterday on the radio I heard about a girl who sent a nude photo of herself to a boy, and that *he* was in trouble for possessing child porn while *she* was off the hook.

    Different stories? Radio host got it wrong?

    Hm. Well it was AM 840, which is Fox I think.

    Curious

  44. Franklin Harris   17 years ago

    The stupid! The burns!!!!

  45. Gorgeous Gus the Wonder Dog   17 years ago

    "To be fair, if you you back far enough, the world was in black and white. Didn't turn color until sometime in the 30's."

    Wasn't there a movie about that? Pleasantville, I think or something like that. Did they steal the idea from Calvin and Hobbs?

  46. Mark A Tarnowski   17 years ago

    "After spending the weekend incarcerated"

    Incarcerated? That's just wrong. It's not as if she were a threat to society.

  47. bill   17 years ago

    I thought the federal courts had decided a few years ago that just nude photos of children aren't pornography. They have to have some sexually suggestive component to make them illegal. Some parents had gotten in trouble for taking pictures of their 3 year old in the tub or some shit like that.

  48. Jamie Kelly   17 years ago

    What's the statute of limitations on sexual deviancy?
    I showed my female cousin my dick when I was 8.
    If she turns state's, I'm fucked.

  49. Jim Bob   17 years ago

    The quote I posted earlier is still bothering me. Is Hottinger saying that taking nude photos of oneself as an adult constitutes a crime?

    "Adult-like crimes." What does that even mean? Is he trying to say "crimes involving sexual abuse perpetrated on teenagers and children" without saying it? Because, even if that is what he means, and even if you add "such crimes being perpetrated by other teenagers," the definition of "crime" has to be expanded to include the willful photography by oneself of oneself in the nude, with the intent to do harm to oneself, or intent otherwise criminal.

    I'm going to guess that Hottinger doesn't even know what he meant by what he said, and couldn't explain it if pressed, and that this boils down to a case of abuse the children to save the children- abuse, in this instance, what I call running a scared and humiliated teenage girl through the meat grinder of Ohio's legal system.

  50. P Brooks   17 years ago

    does anybody live in Vegas?

    Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded.

  51. hmmm   17 years ago

    Here is a link to the story Bronwyn mentioned.

    http://www.khou.com/news/state/stories/khou081008_ar_porntext.f31234e3.html

    While utterly ridiculous, at least in the reason linked case the girl did not get the Standard Female Responsibility Discount, i.e. a pussy pass.

  52. Reformed Republican   17 years ago

    In Pleasantville, they go into a TV sitcom from the black and white era. It is a similar idea, but not exactly the same as going back in time.

    I thought it was a good movie, though.

  53. prolefeed   17 years ago

    Her punishment for using electronic devices to widely distribute her photo and thus wreck her reputation is to have her photo widely distributed using electronic devices, thus wrecking her reputation?

    Whisky Tango Foxtrot?

  54. parse   17 years ago

    While utterly ridiculous, at least in the reason linked case the girl did not get the Standard Female Responsibility Discount, i.e. a pussy pass.

    Yeah, it's good to keep our priorities in order and celebrate the fact that at least the story gives us the opportunity to remind each other that men are always the ones who get screwed in this society. Let the girl rot in jail--every cloud has a silver lining!

  55. hmmm   17 years ago

    Parse, in theory you thinking is correct but in pratice it is unhelpful.

    The fact is that if you want to fix this kind of crap for everyone then the punishment must apply to girls as well as boys. If it is allowed to be a male only problem then the draconian standards will reign.

  56. MAX HATS   17 years ago

    Poor kid.

    This is evil. Making this arrest and choosing to prosecute on this are acts of evil. No two ways about it.

  57. R C Dean   17 years ago

    Her punishment for using electronic devices to widely distribute her photo and thus wreck her reputation is to have her photo widely distributed using electronic devices, thus wrecking her reputation?

    Talk about having the punishment fit the "crime".

  58. parse   17 years ago

    The fact is that if you want to fix this kind of crap for everyone then the punishment must apply to girls as well as boys. If it is allowed to be a male only problem then the draconian standards will reign.

    Yes, because men are always the ones who get screwed in this society. I'm glad you reminded us of that.

  59. Bronwyn   17 years ago

    thanks for the link, hmmm

  60. TallDave   17 years ago

    Her punishment for using electronic devices to widely distribute her photo and thus wreck her reputation

    Heh. Teens today are growing up in the age of widely available Internet porn. These days, being seen naked only ruins a girl's reputation if she lives in Saudi Arabia.

    Let's be realistic: this is purely puritan prudery, and has nothing to do with protecting anyone.

  61. DADIODADDY   17 years ago

    Jamie Kelly
    It's ok, she said it was no big thing...

  62. DADIODADDY   17 years ago

    Pictures dammit..

  63. Andrea S.   17 years ago

    Amusingly, Amarok chose to play Depeche Mode's "Little 15" at the precise moment I read this.

  64. Stevo Darkly   17 years ago

    Stevo Darkly's on her Fave Five I bet. 😉

    What the --! Here I'm off minding my own business, until I just happen to stop by and check out this particular thread, and I find myself personally misaligned! I've been misconstruedeled!

    I deny all allegations, and what's more, I intend to prosecute the allegators.

    Also, however comely a female might become upon her 18th birthday, prior to that date I find them all visually repulsive. I'll have you know.

  65. miche   17 years ago

    does anybody live in Vegas?

    Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded.

    Not right now. I was there Mon-Wed and it was dead. As far as living there goes, my friend said it's all hookers and blow.

  66. R C Dean   17 years ago

    We miss ya, Stevo. You should drop by more often.

  67. william   17 years ago

    Were the criminal tools mentioned her boobs?

  68. John-David   17 years ago

    Wait a second...

    I know it's a little late to contribute to the discussion, but I just remembered that, according to the Ohio Supreme Court, the young lady could legally walk around topless in public. How can that be legal, but these pictures not be?

  69. Robert   17 years ago

    according to the Ohio Supreme Court, the young lady could legally walk around topless in public. How can that be legal, but these pictures not be?

    Probably they would be, if they got before the same judge.

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