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14-Year-Old Boy Placed On Police Register After Sending Naked Picture To Classmate

Ewan Palmer reports: A teenage boy in the UK has had a crime of making and distributing indecent images recorded against him after he sent a naked picture of himself to one of his female classmates. The 14-year-old was not formally arrested after he sent the explicit image to a girl of the same age via Snapchat. The police file against the boy will now remain active for 10 years, meaning any future employer conducting an advanced Criminal Records Bureau check will be aware of the incident. However, it is not clear whether a police file was recorded for the girl who saved and shared the image. Under new legislation, if she had been over 18, the girl could have been convicted under the so called 'revenge porn' law in the UK.

45 of 261 comments (clear)

  1. Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by gurps_npc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Please? I mean here are two perfectly innocent young children just BEGGING to be thrown to the judicial wolves, torn apart, consumed, and eaten by ridiculous laws that pretend to protect them.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
    1. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by nightcats · · Score: 4, Insightful

      it is far easier to classify someone than to understand him; or even to make the effort.

      --
      Development is programmable; Discovery is not programmable. (Fuller)
    2. Re: Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why bother? Power is power. Destroy one to educate one hundred.

    3. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Obfuscant · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Please? I mean here are two perfectly innocent young children

      Huh? One of them is sending unsolicited porn to a girl he knows, the other is spreading that porn to all her friends. Neither is "perfectly innocent."

      just BEGGING to be thrown to the judicial wolves, torn apart, consumed, and eaten

      One of them is reported to have been put on the list of people who have been accused of crimes. The other we don't know what happened to. Neither one is being charged with anything, neither one is being "thrown to the judicial wolves" or "eaten."

      I'm pretty sure that a fourteen year old boy should know it isn't appropriate to send naked pictures of himself to others. That's what makes it a thrill to do, and that's why he used a system deliberately designed to delete images after a short period of time. If it was "perfectly normal" and "perfectly innocent" to send such pictures, why use a system that deletes them automatically?

      The girl knew that it was revenge to distribute that picture once she had it. She even had to bypass the normal snapchat limits to save the image, so it's not like her having the image to distribute was some innocent mistake. She had to go out of her way to do it.

      Sorry, but actions have consequences, even stupid actions.

    4. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm pretty sure that a fourteen year old boy should know it isn't appropriate to send naked pictures of himself to others.

      Are you taking the piss?

    5. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would have thought it was common sense for how appropriate it is to be sending naked pictures of oneself, even at the age of 14.

      A fourteen year old is a child by every definition of the word. We don't allow them to vote, drink alcohol, or drive. So tell me, in what benighted universe are we to hold them responsible for their sexual foibles at a time when they're just entering puberty, usually under the tutelage of adults too terrified of their own sexuality to give them useful advice?

      And sign in if you want a response next time, Obfuscant.

    6. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by adolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Huh?

      1. We don't know that it was unsolicited.

      2. We don't know that he's not innocent or normal. I remember when I was a normal-ish 14-year-old boy. I can't honestly say that my mentality at that time would have precluded me sending such pictures in such a way because the technology didn't exist, but I can say that as an adult I've never felt compelled to photograph my bits for sharing with others. But again, at 14: Maybe, if I had the tools.

      3. We don't know her intent in distribution. I think that a teenaged girl would likely be all giggles about the thing, without malicious intent. (Have you met a teenaged girl? My own is 14.)

      4. We don't know why he chose Snapchat. Perhaps simply because it was convenient, and he was simply familiar with the interface -- we cannot assume, based on what we know, that it was a deliberate decision driven by Snapchat's default nature of deleting things after a short time.

      5. We don't know that she's some crypto-savvy script kiddie who went through extensive measures to bypass Snapchat's security. For all we know she did the obvious and simplest thing: She used one handheld device to take a photograph of an image on another handheld device. (The analog hole does not exclude Snapchat.)

      That normal, innocent kids might be smart and clever does not mean that their every motivation is evil. Furthermore, normal, innocent kids making unwise decisions is a hallmark of normal, innocent kids: They're kids, FFS.

    7. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by tompaulco · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A fourteen year old is a child by every definition of the word. We don't allow them to vote, drink alcohol, or drive. So tell me, in what benighted universe are we to hold them responsible for their sexual foibles at a time when they're just entering puberty, usually under the tutelage of adults too terrified of their own sexuality to give them useful advice?

      I don't know about these days, but when I was fourteen, we were supposed to be adults. No we couldn't vote, drink alcohol or drive, but we were expected to act like young men and women, be respectful, study hard, hold down a job and if we would have been caught sending a naked photo to a girl, if the police had decided to drop the charges our PARENTS would have insisted that they press charges, just to show that life has consequences.
      Call me grandpa if you want, but this was the 80s. It was not so very long ago.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
    8. Re: Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why bother? Power is power. Destroy one to scare and control one hundred

      FTFY

    9. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't know about these days, but when I was fourteen, we were supposed to be adults.

      Really, you grew up in the 19th century?

      our PARENTS would have insisted that they press charges, just to show that life has consequences.

      Oh I see, you grew up in a Stazi gulag, that explains a lot.

    10. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm sorry, but fourteen year olds are not "children" by every definition

      Oh yes they fucking are. I seriously don't know what's wrong with you perp-walk-lovin' murcans but I sincerely hope you get to enjoty a taste of your own medicine when those skeletons start peeking out of the closet.

      I don't know what the fuck you're talking about.

      Yeah pull the other one, it has bells on.

    11. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Working at a maximum security jail that housed young offenders, i can tell you that the youth of today mature much faster maybe due to faster access to information and all that hormone drug ridden food they eat. some of these 14 year olds had the bodies of men ! They were also facing serious charges like murder, assault, rape. Decisions they made were not the same as regular 14 year olds. One kid was in for his 2nd charge of murder. The first time he killed his sister. 2nd time he shot his grandfather. another kid was there because he raped a fellow cellmate...it was his third time. And these "kids" will have their records cleaned after they get out as "young offenders". The only thing that stops them is when they end up in the adult system. Age shouldnt be any reason to excuse criminal actions. Read about the murder of James Bulger and you will think differently about "kids". His murderers were only 10 years old.

    12. Re: Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Please don't take offense, but your post is exactly what's wrong with the world today. Discipline is a far cry from being a nazi. I agree with the op. When I was 14 my parents expected me to be a responsible young adult. When I got arrested for vandalism, my parents told the police to keep me. They only came to get me because the police told them they had to. And you know what? I knew they were right. Teaching your kids about the consequences of their actions, and that some actions have big time, life-fucking, no second chance consequences is NOT nazi-ish, it's called being a good parent. Something that seems to have not survived the change of millennia. Idiocracy is looking more and more like a documentary every day.

    13. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by quenda · · Score: 2

      And even those qualify the definition.

      You might learn from that, as you claimed "by every definition of the word." Every one except the primary meaning?

    14. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sorry, but fourteen year olds are not "children" by every definition...

      Oh yes they fucking are.

      No they're not. By the biological definition, once a specimen has reached sexual maturity, it is an adult. Is a 14 year old human physically mature? No. Is a 14 year old human emotionally mature? No. Is a 14 year old human sexually mature? Hell yes. Effectively every 14 year old girl and damn near all of the 14 year old boys are capable of doing their part of what the species does to make more of their species.

      So no, 14 year olds are not children by every definition. We would be better off if we acknowledged that and made allowances for it.

      The creation of the category "teenager" should have filled that bill, but too many societies on Earth are positively schizophrenic about acknowledging the sexual realities of being a teenager. On the one hand, they're wishing with all their might that teenagers are still children—asexual, trusting, obedient, happy almost by default—and on the other, commercial advertising and entertainment sexually flaunts teenage bodies as the very peak of desirability and perfection, and it's all downhill after that. The reality is complicated, but it does include sex and sexual things.

      So here we have a government getting all up in arms about a naked 14 year old boy. Do they think this is the first time in history a teenage girl saw a naked teenage boy unsolicited? Are they stupid? Teenage boys have been flashing teenage girls and vice versa since the dawn of time, when some near-monkey first said, "Shit, it's cold out here. I'ma wrap this bear skin around my naked ass." A week later, a near-monkey girl flipped up her skirt and mooned a boy, and a near-monkey boy dropped his drawers and waggled his penis at a girl, and it's been happening ever since. The use of the precious cell phone is fucking irrelevant, and the police register is fucking moronic. He didn't do a damn thing that hadn't been done before, and civilization didn't fall because of it, then or now.

    15. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by ag0ny · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In the same universe where we don't just pat them on the head and say "isn't that sweet" when they do other illegal things that they should know are wrong.

      You're an idiot, there's no other way to explain your way of thinking.

      A 14-year boy is still a boy. He's still learning how to behave, making mistakes and learning from them. He sent a naked photo of himself to a girl. SO FUCKING WHAT? Talk to the parents and let them explain to him why that's not acceptable. It's their responsibility to raise the child and educate him to be able to function in society.

      You're arguing that it's acceptable to have laws that give children who make mistakes a criminal record. No, these laws are not acceptable, and they're a sign of how idiotic and shortsighted our society is becoming. People like you are the problem.

    16. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 5, Interesting

      From the age of 16-18, it is legal to have sex in the UK, but not to look at it. Presumably they are supposed to keep their eyes closed.

    17. Re: Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by ncc74656 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Destroy one pour encourager les autres.

      FTFY. :-|

      --
      20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
    18. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by thegarbz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      No. Is a 14 year old human sexually mature? Hell yes.

      Being able to generate a sperm and eggs does not make one sexually mature. It makes one sexually capable. There's a very big difference. You got that right in every other one of your examples but for some reason you missed the point in this one.

      Although I do give you one very clear point: A child has a biological definition as someone who hasn't met puberty. So while they may be legally considered children, morally we can argue till the cows come up, and biologically they are most definitely no longer children at 14.

    19. Re: Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      Wow you and the up-modders have managed to completely missed the point.

      Yeah, so your parents told the police to keep you. A night in the cells would be sure to have a real effect, and you'd learn a good lesson from that and then move on. First, that's actually treating you kinda like a kid not an adult because it's designed to teach you consequences without screwing up your life, which is great. Kids need to learn that life has consequences.

      TFA is about sticking something on his record for 10 years. That's a far cry from a night in the cells to teach a lesson.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    20. Re:Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      None of the laws around porn make much sense.

      A 16 year old can have sex, but no-one else (except their partner(s)) can watch or record it.

      It is illegal to advertise sex for money (prostitution), unless someone intends to record it (porn).

      It's illegal to record the female orgasm in the UK, although having one in private is fine.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    21. Re: Won't someone think of hurting the children?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      " Teaching your kids about the consequences of their actions, and that some actions have big time, life-fucking, no second chance consequences is NOT nazi-ish"

      I agree. The thing is, here they are getting the damn life-fucking, big time consequences for something they should only get a lesson for. Was someone actually hurt? No? Get on with your lives.

  2. Just more censorship by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

    Hey, Teacher! Leave the kids alone!

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  3. So does this mean if the teacher saw it ... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

    ... that they could be classified as a pedophile for viewing child pornography??

    Wait till the kids learn how to abuse the law and fuck* every grownup!!

    Where the hell is common sense?

    * Not literally, but legally

    1. Re:So does this mean if the teacher saw it ... by tompaulco · · Score: 2

      ... that they could be classified as a pedophile for viewing child pornography??

      Wait till the kids learn how to abuse the law and fuck* every grownup!!

      Where the hell is common sense?

      * Not literally, but legally

      In the U.S., we would have charged both the boy and the girl with soliciting child pornography and cast them down with the sodomites.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
  4. Makes sense by theCzechGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Boy sends a naked picture to a girl, gets a record. She then sends the picture to host of other people with the clear intent to hurt the boy, but that's fine. How was he distributing the picture and she wasn't? That's just... exactly how the world works. Carry on.

    1. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It isn't that she didn't distribute the picture. She did, but women are not responsible for their actions. That's why they have a male guardian and can't vote.

    2. Re:Makes sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Boy sends a naked picture to a girl, gets a record. She then sends the picture to host of other people with the clear intent to hurt the boy, but that's fine. How was he distributing the picture and she wasn't? That's just... exactly how the world works. Carry on.

      Well to punish the girl might dissuade her from working in technology. We can't have that now can we?

    3. Re:Makes sense by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 2

      It's not how the world works, it's how a justice system which has been completely warped by feminist legbeards works. Think I'm kidding? Think again. If the degree to which an out and out hate movement has co-opted legislation and law enforcement doesn't appall you, it should.

    4. Re:Makes sense by bondsbw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But in fairness, the one she unfairly punished was a problem student and did that kind of thing.

      No... in "fairness", the girls who threw the object were the problem students. Let the troublemaker boy get punished for his own crimes.

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    5. Re:Makes sense by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2

      However, his mother was told her son's details - along with those of the girl involved and another teenager - had been added to a police intelligence database and could be stored for at least 10 years.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    6. Re:Makes sense by PRMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      He's male. She's female. Therefore he's a guilty perv and she's completely innocent.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    7. Re:Makes sense by tsotha · · Score: 2

      In a legal sense, women seem to have no agency. A male teacher sleeps with one of his 12 year old students gets decades of hard time. A woman? Four months probation. Because patriarchy.

  5. Saved snapchat by silas_moeckel · · Score: 2

    Isn't that impossible she must be a hacker. So she distributed kiddy porn and was an evil hacker violating snapchats TOS. Oh thats right the SJW's would call charging her abusing the victim.

    It's some young teenage kids trying to figure out sex it should have not made it past the headmaster and parents. It's not like it should have been shocking the UK age of consent is what 16? Mind you the two of them can have sex without legal issue throw snapchat into the mix and now it's a serious crime?

    --
    No sir I dont like it.
  6. Not a Sex Offender's Register by mentil · · Score: 5, Informative

    I RTFA (I know)
    He wasn't placed on a sex offender's register (last I heard, the UK declined to implement one), rather a registry of people who have had legal complaints filed with the police agency. Someone (probably a tip from whatever social network the picture was shared on) notified the police about it, and a public record was automatically made about that notification. The police didn't press charges, as they claim to be lenient about teen sexting; an actual modification to the law would be a better option than selective enforcement, however. A bigger problem is that a publicly-searchable registry exists of people who have been accused of a crime, even if the police thought there wasn't enough of a case/cause to arrest or prosecute them. Most people never get called on their 3 felonies per day, so it can be used to single out people no more guilty than typical.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    1. Re:Not a Sex Offender's Register by dryeo · · Score: 2

      Most people never get called on their 3 felonies per day, so it can be used to single out people no more guilty than typical.

      Most people don't do 3 felonies a day. I personally haven't done a felony in over 30 years (when I last visited the USA) and 95% of the worlds population seldom if ever visit the "Land of the Free" which is the only place that has felons (a class of people who have their rights curtailed forever, originally so the King could take their property (fief)).

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    2. Re:Not a Sex Offender's Register by khallow · · Score: 2

      It's tempting to take the position that until something is proved in court the only fair thing is to do nothing about it. I'm not sure that gets the balance right - you risk harm to innocent parties in either case, so there is no good solution.

      It's not just tempting, it's the right thing to do. The problem here is what's the threshold of proof to get on a list of "suspicion" registry? If it's not just as firm as actual conviction of a crime, then it's punishment without due process, perhaps libel as well.

      A free society has no place for public accusations or suspicions without evidence that can be gamed by anyone with a grudge, particularly the authorities.

      Obviously, this is over the top in this case - sadly police have got more process driven, and common sense has gone out of the window a bit.

      There's one word to describe this situation - unaccountability. Established procedures can be used to insure that some common task, such as arresting someone, is done right. But they can also be used to evade responsibility. Zero tolerance policies and similarly heavy-handed responses no matter how slight the issue are an example of procedure gone wrong.

  7. Still better than the US by watermark · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is still better than the US. He would have had to register as a sex offender, which is a life-long sentence. He would not allowed to live near a school or attend a school, and would have to notify his neighbors that he is a registered sex offender...for the rest of his life.

  8. Assistant Chief Constable on the radio this am .. by niks42 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    .. made some good points.

    The school raised it with the police, and they are duty bound to record the 'offence'. However, that is no guarantee it would ever surface again. In the future, if young man decides to go for a job in public service - a policeman, teacher, lollypop man, chat show host - whatever, then the process would be:

    Potential employer would ask for a Criminal Records Bureau check. Check would come back positive, at which point the police have the right to decide it was too long ago, too trivial etc and can ignore the finding. Second, they would contact the young man and tell him that they have received a request, and that the CRB check has turned something up.
    Young man then has the option to challenge the CRB check, and it may at that point go no further. Only if those two hurdles are tripped over would the result return to the potential employer, who themselves might decide it is all bollocks and ignore it.

    Who is at fault here? The boy for doing something childish? Hardly. Apart from the inconvenience of a few photons, it is unlikely to be a novel picture that causes a particular offence. The girl for doing something irresponsible as well? Dubious, really. Even if she forwarded it with a bit of libellous writing attached, hardly the crime of the century. The fault surely lay with the teacher for propagating the pain, and not dealing with it sensibly in loco parentis.

  9. Re:The Power of the State. by Obfuscant · · Score: 2

    What else is there to talk about here except for the complete lack of individual human rights?

    I'm confused. Are you claiming that it is your "individual human right" to send naked pictures of yourself to any girl you might happen to know? How about her "individual human right" not to have pictures of your junk show up on her phone?

    Or is it her "individual human right" to distribute that naked picture of you that you sent with the explicit intent that it be deleted soon after being received?

    Whose "individual human rights" are we talking about here? And when did distributing porn to unsuspecting recipients, and then distribution of that to others as a way of exacting revenge, become a "human right"?

    A right is protection against government oppression, this is a case of government oppressing a 14 year old child...

    And I thought the scene with the muck collectors from Monty Python was ridiculous. "Help help, I'm being oppressed because I can't send pictures of my willy to every girl I know..."

  10. Re:so they should by RabidReindeer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As a culture we need to take a deep breath and figure out when our attempts to "protect" children are significantly more traumatic and damaging than simply leaving them to resolve their problems themselves.

    And start by remembering that not so long ago, 14-year old kids would be expected by their elders and the community to have already started raising their own kids. Which takes a lot more than just looking at pictures.

    Somehow we managed to survive that for many millennia.

  11. Objectivity, lost. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There are 3 things to observe about this case:
    1. The kid is a dumb idiot and needs to be punished for sending naked pics.
    2. The girl is a dumb idiot and needs to be punished for further forwarding and spreading the pics.
    3. The police are dumb idiots who have such a low standard, and such low quality as a police force, that publicizing and making a police statement out of a god damn random teenager over naked pics is something they are more proud of; instead of seeking to publicize and make statements about real crime with real criminals that would actually require effort and principles (in the case of corrupt politicians which there are plenty of).

    Captcha: excrete
    How fitting.

  12. Re:Parenting failure. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    there *must* be consequences

    Sorry, why must there be consequences? Why is it being taking as a fundamental truth that the kids did anything wrong here? Why exactly is it that, at the arbitrary age of 16 (this is the UK), suddenly anything and everything sexual is ok, but, before that anything and everything sexual requires "consequences"? Or, what level of sexual activity requires consequences? Does looking at the opposite sex require consequences. Dancing with a good half metre of space between? Dancing with *gasp*... touching? Kissing? Kissing with *tongues*!? Light petting? Medium petting? Heavy petting? I'll show you mine and you show me yours? Digital (fingers) sex? Digital (computers) sex? Oral sex? Vaginal sex? Vaginal sex with interesting positions? Anal sex? Kinky sex? Group orgies? Where do _you_ draw the line!? What's your logical, reasoned argument for why everyone should draw the line exactly where you do? What do you say about parents whose standards are less strict than yours? For that matter, what do you say about parents whose standards are more strict than yours? What level of "consequences" do you support? Do you think that girls who perform sex acts before marriage (consensually), should be honour-killed?

    Seriously, what is wrong with you people. So many people seem to be so harshly judgmental. It's so freaking disturbing. I was that age once. I was the goody two shoes, innocent, one who would have never done anything like this ever. Meanwhile, I know that a good 70+ percent of my age-mates were up to things like this constantly. Where are their voices now? I'll tell you where they are. They've mostly joined the chorus of the harshly judgemental.

  13. Re:so they should by unimacs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just because we survived as a species does not mean that young girls lead idyllic lives when they were married off or sold into slavery at 13. When whole populations could be wiped out by disease, famine, or war, producing lots of babies was important to survival. Even then, there were pretty strict mores regarding sex. Violating them could mean a death sentence or being ostracized.

    Typically, as societies become more successful and wealthy, women have fewer kids and wait until later in life to have them. And even though we are physically able to produce children at young ages, it doesn't mean it's a good idea. Our brains aren't fully developed until around age 25 or so. Because of this many adolescents are practically wired to make crappy decisions. Sometimes the natural consequences are what's necessary to keep them from repeating the same mistakes. Other times some intervention or prevention is necessary. Lots of teens are definitely at risk for suicide. You don't always want to wait for them to work it out themselves.

    I have a 15 year old son, and a 12 year old daughter so I'm right in the middle of this. Even though my son's hormones are raging and my daughter's are headed in that direction, they aren't even close to being physically or emotionally mature. They do not have the means to raise a child on their own. Of course, there is such a thing as birth control, but the chemical methods have bad side effects and potential health risks when used for a long time. Non-chemical methods tend not to be that reliable. So delaying full blown sex until their later teens or early twenties is something we'd like to see. Definitely past 14. Past 17 is probably pushing it, but we can hope. 17 is the current average for when kids become sexually active.

  14. Re:The Power of the State. by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

    A right isn't protection. I have the right to keep and bear arms. IT requires NOTHING from anyone to practice. It doesn't require government. It doesn't require anyone else to do anything. It exists on its own, apart from anyone or anything else. I have that right if I am alone on an island.

    The point of government is supposed to be to secure(protect) the rights of individuals, NOT rule over men. The moment government compels someone to do something against his conscience, it is necessarily harming him.

    Relating this back to the original topic, the "harm" caused by the boy sending dick pic to a girl was miniscule. It may have been unwanted and may have been a threat (implied or directed) or just clumsy flirting (bad taste), but that requires judgment, not rules of absolutes (zero tolerance). I oppose zero tolerance laws simply because the are an over reaction to bad judgements and end up worse position.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.