A Mississippi ninth grader, who allegedly created an Instagram account and posted nude photos of another student at his school, is suing the school district for depriving him of the education to which he’s entitled because they shipped him off to an alternative school as punishment for posting the photos, the Clarion-Ledger reports.
The student, identified only as an honor student, J.B., because he’s a minor, is claiming his rights have been violated because the courses offered at the district’s alternative education center don’t equal the level of education to which he had become accustomed. For example, he took a semester of Spanish as a ninth grader at his high school, Germantown High School in Madison County, but Spanish isn’t even offered at the alternative school.
District officials, while not able to comment on this specific case, generally defend the quality of education offered by the alternative center. The Academic Options Center, as it’s called, has a “great group of teachers,” the paper quoted Madison County School Superintendent Dr Ronnie McGehee as saying.
But the boy’s lawyer sees things differently. J.B. is “being punished once by being put in the alternative school,” the Clarion-Ledger quoted the family’s lawyer, John Christopher, as saying. “He shouldn’t be punished a second time by being offered less in the way of academics and curriculum.”
What J.B. stands accused of doing is posting a nude photograph of a female student at Gemantown on a fake Instagram account he created. Accounts like this, used for posting of illegal pictures of young girls, have been on the rise in central Mississippi, one attorney noted. People who make illegal posts could be charged with several different crimes, including bullying or harassing behavior in public schools and obscene electronic communications.
“The problem with this is it’s a felony,” the paper quoted Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood as saying. “It’s the same statute we prosecute perverts under for child porn.” If someone is found guilty, the crime would carry a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 40 years.
Since about 2011, laws have been enacted in various states concerning sexting. Florida, for instance, passed a law that punishes teen sexting with a $60 fine and community service. New York lawmakers introduced legislation that would allow judges to send teens who send explicit photos to counseling instead of jail if prosecutors agree that they meant no harm. Even now, though, laws vary significantly from state to state, according to Criminal Defense Lawyer.com.
Iowa lawmakers a few months ago considered changing the penalties for teen sexting under the law, KCCI-8 in Des Moines reported. “Research shows more and more teens are sexting, sharing nude photos on their phones in text messages, which could be considered producing child pornography under Iowa law,” wrote Cynthia Fodor for the station. One high school senior was quoted as saying about the trend, “I think it’s wrong to be sexting, yeah. I used to do it, but to make it a felony or misdemeanor—too much.”
And that seems to be a predominant concern: the punishment may not fit the crime, and education and prevention are often better ways to approach it if solutions are sought.
Taking a 15-year-old boy out of school for a temporary lapse of judgment, especially when his actions don’t subject the girl to bullying or other harassment and are rectified as cleanly as possible, seems too severe, especially if prosecutors see no reason to prosecute and lawmakers across the country are considering revisions to this portion of criminal law.
