Ride the Lightning

20 Students Arrested for Sexting in Cape May N.J.

June 1, 2015

It has become an epidemic. As Naked Security reported last week, twenty middle and high-school students in Cape May, N.J. are facing charges of privacy invasion after investigators collected 27 phones, finding numerous photos of nude and partially nude female students being swapped by male students via text messages and social media.

The maximum penalty for these charges under New Jersey law is five years in prison for adult offenders (one of the defendants is 18) and up to two years in a juvenile detention facility for those under the age of 18. However, maximum penalties are seldom imposed, particularly with first-time offenders.

According to a 2013 poll of 500 children conducted by ChildLine, 60% had been asked to send a sexual image or video. Of those polled, 38% had complied. Two years later, the situation is undoubtedly worse. One thing that makes it worse is that cybercriminals are gathering these photos and videos and selling them online. Another is that sexting images are also used for cyberbullying, which has resulted in suicides.

The article contains a couple of helpful links, including tips to help keep your kids safe online, as well as some apps you should be aware of. Kids seem all too ignorant of the consequences of pushing the "Send" button when they distribute these images – discussing this with your kids is a critical part of raising them in the digital world.

E-mail:    Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Information Security/Information Technology
http://www.senseient.com
http://twitter.com/sharonnelsonesq
www.linkedin.com/in/sharondnelson