Law allows minors to 'sext' unpunished

Loophole in law allows minors to 'sext' unpunished. PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. -- A loophole in a state law is helping minors get away with sexting without being punished. In fact, the loophole makes it nearly impossible to punish them at all. Now, local lawmakers are working to fix it. A law created in 2011 was made to prevent minors from being classified as sex offenders for sending nude pictures to other minors. The law allows a minor’s first offense to become a civil offense instead of a criminal offense. The minor would pay a fine and complete community service. However, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg says a minor’s first offense is not sent to the juvenile criminal courts. Therefore, there is little to no way to punish a minor’s second or third offense as a crime. Aronberg says there is no court in Florida that has jurisdiction over civil offenses for minors. More at WPTV http://www.wptv.com/news/state/loopho... “Because the first offense was not criminal, who has jurisdiction over that case? Well, that was the problem the courts faced,” Aronberg said. Now, Aronberg is working with Senator Joseph Abruzzo to fix this enforcement problem. Aronberg says they are working to rewrite the law so that a minor would be put in the juvenile criminal court system for a first offense. Aronberg says the minor would still only face a fine, but that would document the offense for any future charges. A second offense could be classified as a misdemeanor crime. A third could be a felony. The goal is to create a deterrent for sexting without punishing minors with having to register as sex offenders. “Hopefully this will deal with it instead of thrusting juveniles into the adult court system as child pornographers,” Aronberg said. One local teacher, who didn’t want to be identified, says he sees sexting becoming a growing problem in schools. He says he’s even reported teenagers who were sending nude photos in school. “They were taking pictures of other people and sending them, or taking pictures of themselves and sending them,” the teacher said. He says some students don’t realize the risks of clicking send. “They didn’t realize how quickly it would get around an entire community.” ◂ WPTV NewsChannel 5, Local News Coverage You Can Count On. South Florida, Palm Beach County, Treasure Coast breaking news, weather and traffic. WPTV is South Florida's top-rated television station, covering Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. For more download the WPTV mobile app: iPhone: http://bit.ly/iOS-wptv Android: http://bit.ly/wptv-android