Oklahoma Sexting Laws and Child Porn

Violations of Oklahoma sexting laws are on the rise. Many parents may find the constant texting activity of their kids to be annoying.  However, parents may not realize that a common text messaging activity can result in their teenagers facing criminal charges for creating, distributing or possessing child pornography.

This common activity among teens which may expose your teen to a charge for a sex crime which involves the violation of Oklahoma sexting laws. Sexting is essentially the practice of transmitting explicit images or text messages.  A growing number of teenagers are being charged with violating Oklahoma sexting laws together with other computer sex crimes. These include possession, distribution or downloading of child pornography.

Oklahoma Sexting Laws as Pornography:

It may seem counter-intuitive to charge kids, who child pornography laws intend to protect. Nevertheless, police and prosecutors in several states are using child pornography laws to combat teen sexting.  Before assuming that your teen would never participate in the practice of sexting, it is important to know that sexting has become fairly common among teenagers.  One study from over five years ago, found that twenty percent of teenagers admit participation in the practice of sexting.

Sexting is a serious felony under Oklahoma law.  It falls under Oklahoma’s Indecent Exposure and Child Pornography laws. This can subject a person convicted of the offense to twenty years in state prison.  These harsh penalties that accompany sexting include severe consequences that flow from a conviction of a sex crime in Oklahoma.  Some include quarterly registration as a sex offender, inclusion of the term sex offender on your driver’s license and mandatory use of ankle monitor to track your presence.

It Was Just a Sexy Picture:

The Oklahoma legislature has made attempts to change the law in Oklahoma.  Teenagers that engage in this behavior may still be subject to these harsh penalties.  If a teenage girl takes a naked picture and transmits it to her boyfriend who shares it with his friends, they may all face child pornography charges.  Prosecutors in other states have already begun charging teenagers in this type of scenario.  Although this use of child pornography laws turns them on their head, a parent must take the charges seriously.

Although Oklahoma legislators have recognized the apparent disconnect between treating high school kids who share semi-nude photos with their paramour as “sex porn traffickers” for some time, they have yet to fix the problem.  State Rep. Anastasia Pittman of Oklahoma City conducted a hearing in 2009 in which she warned teens and parents of these risks.

 “No one condones sexing, but at the same time no one wants to hang an albatross around the necks of teens and forever limit their career opportunities or where they can live in society,” explained Pittman.  “There is a world of difference between sexting and predatory behavior.”

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