Sexting laws preceding smartphone era don't match with reality in high schools

SCI-TECH

Laws before smartphone era collide with reality in high school sexting cases

P. Solomon Banda and Colleen Slevin The Associated Press
Published Friday, November 13, 2015 11:05AM EST

Laws from the pre-smartphone era are colliding with the reality of today's high schools in recent sexting cases across the country.

Text:

CANON CITY, Colo. -- Laws from the pre-smartphone era are colliding with the digitally saturated reality of today's high schools in recent sexting cases across the country.

In Canon City, Colorado, where hundreds of explicit images have been turned over to police, school officials say they had no choice but to go to law enforcement to report what is technically child pornography. At the same time, they say they can't offer counselling to students worried about the scandal because they'd have to report those otherwise confidential conversations.

Canon City School Superintendent George Welsh says the laws intended to protect youth from sexual predators have put the school in a Catch-22.