Felony Charges for 12- and 13 Year-Olds Who Sent Sexts? By Emily Bazelon | Posted Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, at 1:09 PM ET Tweet MYSLATE Save this story. Follow all Blog articles. Follow the The XX Factor blog. Follow stories by Emily Bazelon. MySlate is a new tool that you track your favorite parts Slate. You can follow authors and sections, track comment threads you're interested in, and more. This looks like a really bad idea: The Chicago Tribune reports that in Indiana, two 12- and 13-year-old middle schoolers caught in class sending nude photos of themselves to each other via cell phone have been charged with child exploitation and possession of child pornography. This is not what these statutes should be used for. They were written to protect children, not club them over the head. I thought that law enforcement was moving away from such misguided heavy handedness. What gives?
