On average, teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19 in the United States send about 3,000 text and picture messages each month. Combine this with the continued evolution of cell phone technology, teenagers can send and receive information from all their friends no matter where they are. There is a down side. With this freedom, a new type of harassment has evolved: "Sexting."

"Sexting" has been described as "the practice of sending nude or sexually suggestive photos by cell phone." Some state lawmakers around the U.S. are struggling with how to handle cases involving teenage "sexting," and some are torn whether to handle these cases as serious sex offenses or, as an article in the Wall Street Journal put it, simply "juvenile folly run amok."

About 20 states have enacted or proposed measures to deal with teenage "sexting." Generally, these laws are intended to treat minors more leniently than they would be if they were prosecuted under existing child pornography or child exploitation laws, which carry the risk of prison time and mandatory registration as a sex offender.

Some believe that "sexting" should not be handled as a crime, but treated as a matter of poor judgment best addressed by teachers and parents. Others strongly disagree, because lasting humiliation and damage to the reputation can result for the victims of sexually explicit material that is unexpectedly made public.

One problem complicating the debate is the various forms that "sexting" can take. As the Wall Street Journal expressed, "it may be an exchange of revealing photos between two romantic partners or a rapid-fire humiliation campaign, with a photo spreading throughout a school. A single photo may start out as the former and end up as the latter."

Due to the popularity of texting, the issue of "sexting' is high on many parents' worry list. No hard statistics have been developed on how common it is, but it is estimated that the percentage of teenagers who have engaged in this behavior is between 4 percent and 25 percent.

As this is a highly visible topic in the legal community and in the media right now, we will continue discussing this topic in part 2 of this two-part series.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, "Are 'Sext' Messages a Teenage Felony or Folly?" August 25, 2010