In our Facebook story of the day that you voted for; How can you tell if your teen is sexting and what to do about it?
ALBANY, GA -- In our Facebook story of the day that you voted for; How can you tell if your teen is sexting and what to do about it?
Even if you are a parent and you think your teen is isn't sexting, you may want to reconsider because a high number of teenagers are. Not only can it be embarrassing but also illegal.
“Sexting is both illegal and it's stupid,” said Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards. He says about 20 percent of teenagers admit to doing it.
“What teenagers don't realize is that everything that you put out there is there forever,” said Edwards.
This creates an interesting dilemma for parents because if you're going to get your teenager a cell phone, more than likely it's going to able to text and it's going to come with a camera. It's that combination that if not used responsibly could come with a serious penalty.
“You send explicit emails and other materials to children, that could be a prosecution that could lead to up to 20 years in prison,” said Edwards.
Sending a sext message to a teenager, not matter who you are constitutes child pornography.
“Child pornographers and teenagers doing this are committing the same type of crime,” said Edwards.
Before it becomes a police issue, its better that parents do their own policing.
“The only thing that a parent can do is to check, check the devices, it's so many devices that allow you to do it now and it's going to be difficult but it has to be done,” said Edwards.
Parents we talked to its mixed bag between doing just that and trusting your child.
“As a parent you should know if they are doing it because when my kids have their phone I go behind them and I check,” said Chiquita Gulley.
“The only thing you can do as a parent, you can't control what they do when they are not around the only thing you can do is instill good values and to teach them the difference between right and wrong and hope they make the right decision,” said Brian James.
“When it comes to my kid, and she would do something like that, the cell phone is automatically taken away,” said Teleigha Peavy.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forWFXL