HUBBARD — In Ohio, minors charged with sexting are prosecuted under child pornography laws, explain officials with the Trumbull County Juvenile Court.

Sexting is defined by the Webster’s New World College Dictionary as “sending sexy pictures and sexual messages using cellphone texts.”

“In the eyes of the law, you might think it’s a nude, but the law feels that it’s child pornography and that is where it’ll fall when they are charged,” explained Jolene Calderone, chief diversion officer with the Trumbull County Juvenile Court.

There was some effort in 2009 and 2010 to create legislation that would pull sexting out from under child pornography, said Christine Prelee, juvenile diversion officer at the Trumbull County Juvenile Court, but it never materialized.

“My guess is that they didn’t even want to crack open a door related to child pornography,” Prelee said.

During a recent presentation to students in the Hubbard School District, Calderone explained the severity of the charge associated with sexting, saying murder is a felony 1 and child pornography is a felony 2. The example is used so students can understand the severity of the charge and how harsh a punishment minors could receive.

“We explain that to the kids so that they understand that we see kids that do jail time. We see kids that come into our office. These are the charges that can happen to them,” Calderone said.

Part of the presentation included showing a video of a teenage girl texting what is assumed to be her boyfriend. At first she’s just sending photos of what she’s going to wear and then when she’s in the shower, he asks for another picture. At first she doesn’t want to send it ,but he convinces her. Within seconds, the picture she sent him is forwarded to others. She then receives messages from other people about the photo.

“We show them this video because this is exactly what happens,” Calderone said. “Kids are in the moment and this is what they make the choices of. They communicate with each other mostly through text”

Students tend to live in the moment and are always snapping photos of what they’re doing, Prelee said, adding they don’t always think about what information they’re putting out for people to see.

“… we try to tell them, stop and think before you do something but, again, they don’t always think that through,” Prelee said. “They just put it right out there and they think it’s just going to stay where it does and it doesn’t really do that.”

District parents were invited to attend a sexting and cyber bullying program, the same presentation provided to Hubbard students. There they learned the various laws and consequences associated with sexting.

When talking to the students and parents, Calderone explained that even the person who took the photo gets charged, even if it turns into bullying.

“If they send it, if they capture it on their phone, they hold it in their photos or another vault, that they’re trying to hide it, if they distribute it in anyway they will be charged and if they’re charged, they’re all coming down to juvenile court,” Calderone said. “They press it on everybody, there’s not a question. The girl who created it or the boy who created it”

Even if a student starts to get bullied because of the sexting, they’ll still get charged because they sent the photo, Calderone said.

Sexting seems to be an expectation of dating, so students may not realize they are committing a crime and are surprised by how serious sexting is considered, Prelee said.

The court understands that sometimes good kids make bad choices and jail time isn’t always the answer, said Calderone. That’s why there’s a diversion program in place.

“Sometimes the consequences need to fit the situation and I think it’s beneficial to give kids an opportunity, because they all make mistakes,” Chlordane said. “It’s an opportunity not to have a record and our judges, which is Sandra Harwood and Samuel Bluedorn, they are very much for letting kids understand the consequences. But if we can give them an opportunity to go through a program and learn something to better themselves and better their environment or direction, we’d rather do that.”

The officials said if a child receives a photo he or she shouldn’t have, the child is encouraged to tell his or her parents and the parents should report it to law enforcement.

“If your child just received something and they didn’t ask for it, they didn’t participate in it, (authorities) do understand that,” Chlordane said. “They will take the phone, they will (delete the photo) and they will return the phone. But that is, only if, your child is not participating in sexting.”

If the child was participating in sexting, the phone can be taken away and destroyed. “The law states that they are going to take that phone and the prosecutor is going to order for it to be destroyed,” Chlordane said.

Brandilyn Yobe, Hubbard High School principal, said these types of presentations are important for students.

“We’re not immune to anything and I want to be preventive,” Yobe said. “I want my students to understand what happens to them and the consequences that come with that because I really don’t believe they realize it.

“It’s just so easy to hit the send button and then realize afterwards ‘oh my gosh, you mean I could go to jail for this? I could get a charge against me?’ Yeah you can, and they just don’t know it, they don’t understand it.”

(cramey@tribtoday.com)