According to a recent survey, 66 percent of teen girls and 60 percent of teen boys said they have electronically sent sexually suggestive content.
They can be an object of ridicule or virtually enveloped in romance, but with one click, nude pictures can destroy a teen or young adult's clean record.
The socially, and legally, frowned upon practice of "sexting" is rising among teens ages 13 to 19 and young adults ages 20 to 26 nationwide.
According to a recent national survey "Sex and Tech" conducted by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 20 percent of the teens surveyed and 33 percent of young adults surveyed said they have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures or videos of themselves. While 66 percent of teen girls and 60 percent of teen boys said they have sent sexually suggestive content through text, e-mail or instant message in an effort to be "fun or flirtatious," these teens are unaware of the legal consequences.
Currently under Ohio law, any individual, including minors, who is guilty of illegal use of a minor in a nudity-oriented material or performance, such as selling, disseminating, displaying or possessing nude photographs via computers or cell phones, could face felony charges of the second or fifth degree.
"I don't think many teens know (sexting) is a crime and, obviously, if it's a felony they are going to find out it's a crime really quickly," State Rep. Ron Maag (R-Lebanon) said. "College admissions officers might be able to see the (consequences) of those pictures as well as future employers. It's not a harmless prank as people probably think it is."
Maag is working on state legislation to reduce the severity of the penalty for sexting for minors. Maag said his legislation, if passed, would transfer the penalty of sending nude pictures through technology by minors from a felony to a misdemeanor. However, individuals could still be tried with a felony depending on the county prosecutor. The bill will be presented to the Ohio General Assembly April 7.
"Under current law, kids could be tried as a felon and be labeled as sex offenders probably for the rest of their lives," Maag said.
In March, a 13-year-old boy from Middletown went to the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center on second-degree felony charges after school administrators found a video of sexual activity with a female student at his school.
Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said juvenile court has only seen a handful of sexting cases in the last couple of years.
Piper said juveniles adjudicated for sexting are mandated by the court to register as a sexual offender. If Maag's legislation is passed, Piper said it would alleviate the law from being too harsh, in reference to minors having to register as sexual offenders.
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"If a student is goofy, immature or silly and we give them a smack on the back of the wrist to wake them up, we don't want him to have to report himself as a sexual offender for the next 20 years when he really may not be," Piper said. "I think (Rep. Maag) is trying to make sure the law isn't too harsh for the situation."
Holli Morrish, Talawanda School District's coordinator of community development, said school officials are aware other districts in the region have experienced sexting events, but Talawanda School District has not seen any of its own. Schools in the Talawanda School District do not allow students to have their cell phones on or out of bags or lockers during the school day, Morrish said.
Morrish said Talawanda officials are acting on a proactive basis regarding sexting, and they are looking for legislation to help guide their next steps.
"We are going to review our policy regarding cyber bullying and other related topics relative to the use of a cell phone Friday," Morrish said.
Although Maag's bill only addresses the penalty of the crime of sexting, both Maag and Piper said it is important to increase education of the severity of the topic and the potential of reputations being besmirched.
"We need to increase parent and student awareness that some of this conduct may actually be against the law and that it does have consequences," Piper said. "Once you memorialize a photograph and once it is put there on the Internet or mainstream (communication), you and everybody else will see that photo for the rest of your life."
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