Lowvelder investigates: Teens who sext may end behind bars
Children aged 14 and older may be arrested and charged.
MBOMBELA – One click stands between a teenager with a bright future and a criminal record. Contrary to popular belief, minors can be investigated, arrested, detained and charged for what they do online.
Lowvelder investigated the online habits of local teenagers. Crimes most regularly committed on the World Wide Web are harassment, crimen injuria, criminal defamation, intimidation and a host of sexual offences. Of these, the creation, possession and distribution of child pornography are most relevant.
This week police zoomed in on cybercrimes involving high school pupils. After studying legislation, including the Criminal Procedure, Sexual Offences, Protection from Harassment and Child Justice Acts, Lowvelder compiled a framework of what constitutes these forms of online crime, how child offenders are handled and what the life-altering consequences of their actions may be.
Crimen injuria is the violation of another person’s dignity. Defamation occurs when one person publishes content that harms another’s reputation. Intimidation happens when someone uses a threat to compel his/her victim to act in a certain way. Harassment includes direct and indirect conduct that either causes harm or makes the victim believe that harm may be coming his way. In the Lowveld’s courts, offenders are usually handed down non-custodial sentences.
Local minors use social media applications to commit these crimes – especially Instagram and Snapchat. Both are free sharing applications that allow users to add text to photos and videos.
WhatsApp enables high school learners to exchange sexy (and often nude) photos. The Sexual Offences Act dictates that any content of a sexual nature depicting a person younger than 18, is child pornography. Minors hence manufacture child pornography featuring themselves. The creation, possession and distribution thereof are serious crimes.
The privacy expectations of sexters were trashed with the arrival and abuse of WhatScan, an application allowing users to use one WhatsApp account on two devices simultaneously. Access is gained to another user’s account simply by scanning the black-and-white QR code from that user’s cellphone screen.
This practice has caused existing child pornography – created and distributed by local minors – to surface and spread like wildfire.
It is not clear if and when the teenagers involved will be criminally charged. The law does, however, dictate what procedure applies to suspected criminals aged 17 and younger.
The Child Justice Act stipulates that children up to 10 years of age may not be arrested. When charging those between 11 and 14, the state must prove that these children knew the difference between right and wrong and were able to act accordingly, in other words – for example that they had criminal capacity. Children aged 14 and older may be charged unless they can prove that they lacked criminal capacity when the crime was committed.
The Constitution and the Act stipulate that the interests of children under 18 are paramount in all circumstances. For those guilty of petty offences, a slap on the wrist may suffice as punishment. Sexual offences are serious crimes and offenders may be jailed.
