Oregon Sexting Laws & Punishments Guide: Is It Illegal?

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Or, if the receiver is under the age of 18, this sexting violates a variety of existing laws. A seemingly innocent image between two lovers can suddenly become subject to criminal investigation. Sexts and nudes are much riskier and much more dangerous than you might think, and sending and receiving explicit content can get you in a lot of trouble. Depending on the state you’re in and your age, you could even be breaking a law when you send or receive a nude.

How Does Consent Impact Sexting Laws?

This activity may constitute sexual offenses in some circumstances under Indiana’s sexting laws. Section 1466A(b) includes attempt and conspiracy, and provides a cross reference to 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(b)(2) (see below) for penalties. Adults who send nude photos of themselves to minors get charged with child molestation and harassment. These charges are not limited to just when minors are involved but also between two adults. When an underage person (below 18 years) shares nude photos of themselves or a fellow youngster, if these photos get shared with an adult, he/she is subject to being charged with possession of child pornography. Several states also have laws that make teen sexting illegal without involving child pornography.

Criminal Defense

This can involve accepting a lesser charge – a misdemeanor instead of a felony – or probation in lieu of jail and other penalties. A team through the years has also forged valuable relationships with prosecutors and law enforcement officials, with whom they possibly can share your side of the story before charges are even levied. In most states, texting or sharing nonconsensual pornography is a crime. For example, under New York Penal Code 245.15, it is illegal to disseminate an intimate and identifiable image without consent with the intent to cause harm. Written by an award-winning criminal defense attorney specializing in state and federal criminal law in the state and federal courts of Northern Virginia and Washington DC. While it is generally harmless, if caught on the wrong end of a misunderstanding, simply sending the wrong message to the wrong recipient could land a person with a severely damaged record and reputation.

The specifics of your case will inform the possible defenses of a sexting crime, but the most common one is that you truly believed you had consent from the other party. If the charges involved a minor, you could contend that you thought they were of age and that they deliberately misled you about their age. Teen sexting laws prohibit both sending and receiving explicit images. However, it isn’t really possible to prevent someone else from sending you a photo. Because of that, sexting laws typically prohibit “receiving and keeping” any explicit images.

Being informed about such laws is crucial because ignorance isn’t considered a viable defense in court. Sexting involves sending sexually explicit images or messages electronically, usually by phone. For most people, the biggest threat from sexting is having someone else find the images. The criminal laws for sexting and sharing sexual images online differ in every state. Before you think of sending nude photos from your cell phone, make sure you understand the laws in your state. If you’re accused of a sex crime, talk to a local criminal defense attorney about your legal rights.

• Studies have shown that the majority of teens acknowledge that they did not think about the possible legal consequences or other ramifications of sexting when they engaged in this type of activity.
• However, in other states, a sexting offense may be considered child pornography, an offense that is typically charged as a felony and one that has much harsher penalties.
• Other potential charges for sexting with a minor include possession of child pornography and sexual exploitation of a child, among others.
• Unless it is a personal choice, practically everyone (10.5 years +) has a communication device with a camera installed on it, as long as you can read and write.

Second, an adult who sends a nude or sexual photo of him or herself to a child could also be convicted of a crime. In many states, it’s illegal to share with children anything obscene or sexual in nature. For example, a school teacher who sends a photo of their genitals to a student could be convicted of disseminating obscenity. The Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act of 2003 makes illegal the production, distribution, or possession of any type of child pornography. It is also a federal crime to use a computer to ship, transport, receive, distribute, or reproduce for distribution child pornography or to solicit pornographic images of children.

Possession of child pornography, such as having nude photos of a minor on your phone or computer, is punishable by up to 4 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000. Obscenity, on the other hand, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 1 year in jail and/or a fine of up to $100,000. According to Amy Hasinoff, if sexting was viewed as media production and a consensual activity, this would change the legal assumption that sexting is always non-consensual and reduce the culpability of victimized youth. For these reasons, there may be arguments – grounded in reasoning provided by First Amendment doctrine – for finding some youth sexts exchanged between persons who are of the age of consent to be legally-protected speech. If someone else sent you their sexually explicit photos or videos, you might face criminal charges for sharing or distributing those photos or videos without their consent.

Note that this law penalizes sending “harmful” matter to a child by any means. It is an additional offense to save any explicit pictures of the minor gained via sexting. However, consent does not matter if one of the parties to the sexting is a minor.

In other cases, prosecutors can allow minors to avoid a felony record and sex offender registration after facing sexting charges. As a preteen or teenager parent, you have a duty to let your children know the potential legal ramifications of sexting. More importantly, it would help if you reminded them that any message, image, or video they create or send electronically, even if they only share nude photos, has the potential to remain on the internet forever. Texas lawmakers viewed the non-consensual electronic transmission of nude or sexually explicit images as analogous to the crime of indecent exposure – the act of intentionally exposing one’s private body parts in public to strangers.

Understanding the nuances of your state’s laws is key to avoiding unintended legal trouble. This offense may be the possession and distribution of child pornography if the receiver shares a sexually explicit depiction of a child with somebody outside the relationship or posts this image on the internet. In some circumstances, sexting can result in criminal charges that require you to get in touch with a Wisconsin criminal defense attorney. Also, when an adult sends nude images of a minor, they can be charged with the distribution of child pornography. If your child is involved in sending and receiving nude or suggestive photos, you need to contact our Okemos criminal defense attorneys at White Law PLLC today. All of these include wording that addresses minors sending images that are sexual in nature.