My question involves criminal law for the state of: North Carolina
I am 16, and have shared semi-nude pictures with an 18-year-old.
If they are discovered, what will the consequences be, both for him and for me?
Can I be prosecuted?
Thanks,
Z
My question involves criminal law for the state of: North Carolina
I am 16, and have shared semi-nude pictures with an 18-year-old.
If they are discovered, what will the consequences be, both for him and for me?
Can I be prosecuted?
Thanks,
Z
You can BOTH potentially be prosecuted. You for sending them. Him for possessing them.
Here's an explanation of the Federal statutes.
It is also illegal in all 50 states and in DC to possess or distribute kiddie porn. You can be charged with distributing, he can be charged with possession. What else is there to understand?
And if you sent the pics at the adult's request, that can ALSO bring up charges.
If they're of someone else, then yes. Put it this way: the fact that you're a minor doesn't excuse your contributing to the demand for child sexual abuse, which is how these pictures are nearly always produced.
If they're of yourself, than it's a legal gray area. Which the pictures may meet the statutory definition (although "semi nude" is a gray area by itself), the problem is that the supreme court has explicitly stated that "where pictures are neither obscene nor the product of sexual abuse, they maintain full First Amendment protection". In other words, it's almost certainly unconstitutional to prosecute someone under that statute for taking pictures of themselves, since a person cannot sexually abuse themselves. There is also the doctrine of (non)absurdity, which forbids a statutory application that would yield a result that "shocks the general ... common sense" (which someone being convicted of a crime against themselves certainly would be), and the principle that a victim cannot be charged as an accomplice of a crime against themselves.
Most prosecutors know this, and bring obscenity or harassment charges instead, or in some cases state laws regarding the misuse of communications facilities. Unless you're unlucky and come across a prosecutor who is intent on making you accept a community punishment by threatening the most severe charges he can come up with, even knowing full well his chances of success on those charges are low, child pornography is not likely to be one of the charges you face. That's not to say you wouldn't be likely to face other charges if someone made a complaint against you.
Short answer: don't do it, no matter what age you are.