According to a recently-released study by the Department of Psychology at Drexel University, nearly 9 out of 10 readers of this blog post (87.8%) have “sent or received a sexually suggestive message over the internet at some point in their lives.” And what’s more, you almost certainly think that sexting is awesome — 95.9% of…
Over the weekend, the New York Times published a sobering report about a case in Indiana involving a teenage boy, a teenage girl, a mobile app, and the state’s sex offender registry. It is not, as you might expect, a love story. Last December, Zachery Anderson, a 19-year-old resident of Elkhart, IN, arranged a date…
The Importance of Setting a Good Example Before you can start negotiating effective rules regarding online behavior with your older, more technologically competent children, it’s important to make sure that your own house is in order. Few things will more quickly undermine a serious conversation about safe and ethical online behavior than your child’s awareness…
Parents, educators, and law enforcement agencies around the world are grappling with the phenomenon of underage sexting. Despite increasingly strident warnings from adults to children about the risks of taking and distributing nude photos, the trend shows no sign of slacking anytime soon. In fact, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency recently declared that sexting…
In a press release issued June 2, Acting United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. (W.D. Kentucky) announced that his office had arrested Patrick Newman, 35, and charged him with violating child exploitation laws. Prior to the announcement by Kuhn, Newman taught Social Studies at Trinity High School, an all-boys Catholic school located in Louisville,…
An unwelcome explicit photo sent by a 17-year-old to another high school student in Marion, NC has resulted in a multi-town, multi-state investigation into teen sexting. WLOS, an ABC affiliate in western North Carolina, reported on May 29 that the Marion Police Department had charged (or was about to charge) several teens (some as young…
On May 27, a federal lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, NY by the parents of an unnamed female high school student who formerly attended Lev Bais Yaakov High School. The lawsuit (see below) alleges that the student was accused by an unnamed parent of sending a naked photograph of herself…
Cape May County Prosecutor Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor announced on May 26 that his office has charged 19 juveniles and 1 adult in a two-school sexting scandal. On April 23, a female student told school officials at the Lower Cape May Regional High School that nude photos of a friend were being shared…
Out of the far northeast of England comes a disturbing report, courtesy of a Freedom of Information request filed by the Daily Mail. Over the last year, the Northumbria Police have investigated a number of sexting cases involving children as young as 10, 11, and 12 years of age. The Northumbria Police force is one…
A new case arising out of White Oak, TX helps to illustrate not only the slippery slope of teacher-student cell phone communications, but the enormous challenges law enforcement officials face in investigating charges of digital misconduct. At the beginning of May, the news broke that an educator in the White Oaks Independent School District had…
