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'Sexting' is latest crime of fashion
(by Sue Hoffman - March 11, 2011)
'Sexting' is latest crime of fashion
By SUE HOFFMAN
A few years ago, predators hiding in chat rooms on the Internet were a major concern for parents and law-enforcement officials.
Today's teenagers aren't using chat rooms as much, David Frattare, lead investigator for Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, told freshmen and sophomores last week at Kenston High School. However, technology, including the wide use of cellular telephones, is still presenting major problems for teens, he said.
The statewide task force, headed by Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, receives two major complaints, Mr. Frattare said, "sexting" and "cyberbullying." His presentation, "Criminal Tools: Is Your Mobile Device About to Get You into Trouble?" emphasized the two issues.
Mr. Frattare also presented a program to parents about the same issues as part of high school Principal Nancy Santilli's "Kenston Konversations" program.
"We want to bring parents together so that we can talk about these issues," Mrs. Santilli said. "We have to work together to create a safe climate in our schools."
Mr. Frattare's message to teens and parents was that Internet crimes are still significant. However, texting on mobile telephones has become a much larger problem than it was, he said.
"How many of you have your own computer?" he asked students. Some hands went up. "How many of you have your own cell phone?" he asked. Nearly all the students raised their hands.
A cell phone is "smaller, easier to hide, easier to use," he said. It can become a "criminal tool," he said, when used for the wrong purposes.
"When we think of criminal tools, what do you think of," he asked students, "a gun, a knife or a crowbar?" Today's computers and cell phones also can become criminal tools, Mr. Frattare said.
About 20 percent of teenagers have been involved in "sexting," he said, which involves the exchange of naked or semi-naked photos of participants through texting.
"Sexting," when it involves images or videos of minors, "is child pornography" and is a criminal offense, he said. "Child pornography is a felony crime," Mr. Frattare said.
"We wrestle daily with what do you do with a child offender who must now register as a sex offender." He said the task force is seeing more crimes perpetrated by children because of technology.
"Cyberbullying" is "a reality," Mr. Frattare said. "Don't assume everything you send or post is going to remain private. Once you press 'send,' there is no way to retrieve the photo or message," and it travels quickly and far, he said. "We see a lot of 'sexting' and cyber-pornography cases that end up in foreign countries."
"Sexting" and "cyberbullying" have caused some teenagers to commit suicide, he said. Mr. Frattare showed the students a video about Jessica "Jessie" Logan, an 18-year-old who took her own life. The nude cell-phone photo she had sent to her boyfriend was sent to hundreds of teenagers in at least seven Greater Cincinnati high schools. She became the subject of taunts, name calling and harassment everywhere she went, according to her mother, Cynthia.
"Sexting" and "cyberbullying" can be traced, Mr. Frattare said. "If you send a message to someone, it's going to get recorded. What helps us more than anything is the information you provide us without knowing it." Facebook postings can help tie the crime together, he said.
"For as much as we can do in law enforcement, you are the front lines in Internet-based crimes," he said. It's important that teenagers tell a parent or teacher when illegal activities are going on, he said. "We want to see everyone use their devices responsibly. We don't want you to end up like Jessie."
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