A Florida lawmaker is trying to reform Florida’s “Sexting” laws, so that teens who are caught sending sexually explicit photos to one another are not charges as felony sex offenders, and face a lifetime as a registered sex offender.
According to WPVF, State Rep. Joseph Abruzzo of Wellington has introduced this bill to the Florida house. It allows judges to assess the difference between predatory child pornography and foolish, yet understandable teen behavior, and issue sentencing accordingly.
Previous efforts at reforming these laws have failed in the legislature, largely due to timing and procedural issues.
Sexting laws reform efforts are continuing nationwide, as state statutes try to catch up with this technology and the reality of teen behavior that it enables. The laws on distribution of explicit images of teens don’t allow for how easy and common it is for teens to unthinkingly engage in this behaivor themselves.
This is a common sense reform, and we hope it is made into law.