Megan's Law Mom OK With Nude MySpace Teen

On Myspace.com you can shamelessly promote yourself, even if you are underage and the shameless promotion is illegal.

Sexting isn't the only means for teens to debase themselves in shameless self promotion. Myspace has gotten a reputation for certain types of shameless self promotion as well. And Craigslist ("Craigslist is the single largest source of prostitution in the nation," said Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart. New York Post). And the internet in general. (Connect up with Euripides today on Facebook! I promise not to have any nude photos of me posted there.)

What bothered me about this article at the NBC New York website was the little inanities centered around a 14 year old girl posting nude photos of herself on Myspace. By posting nude photos of herself on Myspace, the girl broke federal law against child pornography. If convicted, she would be labeled as a sex offender and become subject to Megan's Law.

Megan's Law, named after Maureen Kanka's murdered daughter and signed by President Clinton in 1996, compels states to make public and private information about sex offenders available to the public. The law had the best interests in mind to track sex offenders to keep them away from high risk situations where they may harm children.

Here Are the Problems

The first problem is the really, really poor decisions many children make with regard to sexting or posting on the internet. In an age of rampant promiscuity, where pornography abounds in wealth, where seemingly no one is held responsible or accountable for sexual decisions (except, perhaps with the public outcry against Octomom), where abortions substitute for birth control, and where abstinance is a four letter word, in this age children grow up thinking there are no consequences for sexual misbehavior.

I doubt that the 14 year old girl gave any thought whatsoever about posting nude photos of herself on the internet. I'm certain she never thought for a moment that she might be committing a felony. The thought that this girl's parents didn't teach her that bad decisions can lead to bad consequences is just sad.

Then, there's this:

The mother of the New Jersey girl whose death inspired Megan's Law is criticizing prosecutors who charge teenagers with child porn for distributing nude photos of themselves.

Maureen Kanka said Thursday that the prosecutors are harming the children more than helping them. (NBC New York)

There's a problem with Kanka's outspoken criticism. You see, once there's a law, it applies equally to all concerned. That's what the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution is all about. Yes, there's equal protection, but there's also equal application of the law. What Kanka says here, after pushing to have Megan's Law passed in the first place, is that maybe there are unintended consequences of the law. The problem is this: We cannot judge the child pornographer with special consideration, even if she's only 14, because if we did, we'd be creating special classes of people who are not equal under the law - a clear violation of the 14th Amendment.

Kanka said the girl needs help, not legal trouble. (NBC New York)

Kanka herself created the legal trouble and now realizes the unintended consequences of laws. The prosecuters in this case are entirely in the right to pursue legal punishment for this sex offender.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the 14 year old should be stigmatized for the rest of her life as a sex offender because she was stupid enough to post nude photos of herself on Myspace. ("For her boyfriend's pleasure," she said.) Here's a case where the law needs to be modified to adjust for the thrill-seeking sexters.

What really needs to be modified, however, is the attitude that anything goes, that there are few or no consequences for abusive behavior, sexual or otherwise. We need to support rebuilding the fundamental unit of society - families. We need to encourage mothers and fathers to maintain fidelity and teach that principle to their children. And for goodness sake, stop letting your children have unrestrained use of computers.