So I think almost everyone would agree that child porn is awful, and those involved in it should be sent to jail for a really long time.

But there’s a constant barrage of news stories where prosecutors fail to use any common sense at all. A 16-year-old boy might send an explicit photo of himself to a 16-year-old girl, and a school administrator might confiscate the phone and alert police. And then the boy is arrested for creating child porn, the girl is arrested for possessing child porn, and the school administrator who confiscated the phone is also arrested. How does that make any sense at all? In another recent case, two minors (both around 16) videotaped themselves having (consensual) sex and were charged with statutory rape, since both were underage.

I think it’s a case of no one wanting to appear too lax on prosecuting child predators, so no one stops to consider that it makes no sense to arrest children as child predators. Let’s stop arresting children for child porn. And then, let’s get the media to forget the absurd phrase “sexting.” And then maybe law enforcement can start focusing their attention again on creepy old perverts who should be arrested for child porn.

Any time these news stories come up, the response is pretty much universal: “That’s absurd,” or, “They’re making way too big of a deal out of this.” I wish some legislators would have the courage to say the same thing.