Teenager Prosecuted for Possessing Own Nude Selfie

[Unknown Beatle]

A Fayetteville, North Carolina teenager has reached a plea deal to avoid being charged with multiple sexual exploitation counts after his cell phone was found to contain nude selfies of himself. Seventeen-year-old Cormega Copening, who took the photos of himself when he was 16, agreed to the deal in order to avoid possible jail time and being registered as a sex offender. As part of the plea, the teen agreed to random police searches without warrant for one year as well as other penalties, Fusion reports. The teenager was listed as both the victim and the perpetrator on the sexual exploitation charges.

The case has been met with controversy since the teenager, who faced up to 10 years prison time, was saddled with child pornography charges for being in possession of his own nude selfies. The photos were discovered during an unrelated search of the teen's phone; he was suspended from the school's football team until the investigation was resolved. Adding to the uproar was that no warrants were issued for the initial search of Copening's cell phone.

Copening received one count for possessing a nude selfie taken by his 16-year-old girlfriend, who was also charged in the incident and similarly agreed to a plea deal of one year probation. The selfies were deemed child pornography even though the age of consent in North Carolina is 16. Additionally, North Carolina is one of only two states that recognize 16 years old as adulthood in criminal matters, so both Copening and his girlfriend faced being charged as adults even though the crimes the perpetrated against themselves related to sexually exploiting minors, Reason.com writes.

More: Rolling Stone

Who decided to charge him with sexual exploitation? I'm completely dumbfounded by this. He's both the victim and the perpetrator? Wow! There's a lot of stupid and idiotic people running around making laws and punishing innocent people for pretend crimes.

[msongs]

1. because jesus nt

[marlakay]

2. So glad I grew up in Cali....nt

[TDale313]

3. Wow. Ridiculous he's being charged. n/t

[marym625]

5. so we're living in la la land.

This is so unbelievable and totally fucked up.

What the fuck is happening in this country? This is some whacked out shit

[Statistical]

6. "I do not recall..."

Remember kids you are living in a totalitarian state. Strong encryption is your friend. Ensure you phone uses whole phone encryption and has a strong passcode. If asked for the decryption key just remember the phrase "I do not recall what the passcode is". You have a 5th amendment protection against being forced to testify against yourself.

Yes it is sad that is has come to that.

[edgineered]

7. Okay, whose photo did he have?

for possessing a nude selfie taken by his 16-year-old girlfriend

The headline doesn't match the story.

[GReedDiamond]

9. I took it to mean that the "selfie" was taken by his girlfriend...

...using his phone. And she is apparently paying her "debt to society" for her heinous crime, even as we peck away at our keyboards.

Which means, I think, it wasn't a true "selfie"...but since the whole story is insanely Orwellian in nature, none of that hardly matters.

[edgineered]

17. Ah, got it.

I'll stick with doing the things I know and leave all the wrangling and hair splitting to others (glad at least someone here didn't miss the obvious)

[Journeyman]

8. It's getting harder and harder to be a good satirist in this modern world. . .

Think of the most outlandish scenario and, before you can get it written, life surpasses you in both absurdity and derision.

[MrScorpio]

10. Just when you think that America can't possibly find a way to out-stupid itself…

It does shit like this.

[hobbit709]

11. I've come to the conclusion that cell phone cams lower IQ by 50 points.

Considering the stupidity of some people when they take selfies of any kind.

[MrScorpio]

12. I'm willing to tolerate selfies…

In order to get greater exposure of racist and abusive cops by folks with smartphones.

Got to look at the good with the semi-bad.

[hobbit709]

14. Those usually aren't selfies. They're recording what is going on.

It's the ones that want to take pictures of themselves with whatever in the background. No clothes, rattlesnakes, buffalo, bears, the drop off at the Grand Canyon, etc.

[MrScorpio]

16. Still, I can't see any harm against others in taking pics of themselves

And thrill seeking behavior predates smartphones by a long run.

Vanity and adventurism, that's about as American as you can get.

[bigwillq]

13. Another example of the law going too far

This is ridiculous. SMH

[Orrex]

15. This is not unprecedented

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/jan/14/child-pornography-sexting

This is also worth reviewing:

Application of Child Pornography Laws to Selfies

If an adult takes a sexually explicit picture of a minor and shares it via social media or text message, that adult will likely have run afoul of some child pornography laws. But what about a minor who takes selfies and sends them discreetly to another teen? What if the receiver then forwards the photos to others? Have they violated any laws? In many states, the answer is yes.

Though their laws were created to protect minors from exploitation caused by others, states are prosecuting minors under child pornography statutes for sending nude or otherwise lurid self-portraits, even when the minors sent the selfies without coercion. The common quirk in the laws is that there is no exception for taking or distributing sexually explicit pictures of oneself. Thus, a high school student sending a racy seflie to a boyfriend or girlfriend could subject both themselves and the receiver to prosecution for child pornography. If the picture makes its way around other social circles through online or direct sharing, anyone who received or distributed the photo could also find themselves open to charges.

(boldface emphasis mine)

[CTyankee]

18. "what could possibly go wrong?"

um.