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Jacqui Ford, Jacquelyn Ford Law, P.C.

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Jacqui Ford: Welcome to Your Best Defense podcast. My name is Jacqui Ford, and today we\\u2019re going to be talking more about sex crimes. Today\\u2019s topics are going to include sex crimes involving children, but not as you might understand. The laws in Oklahoma have very strong protections for minors and children under the age of 18 from being exploited for the purposes of child pornography.

The problem the laws in Oklahoma have right now is that the law can\\u2019t keep up with technology. And what we see is that these children, who the laws were designed to protect from adult predators, are now becoming defendants charged with possession, and distribution, and procurement of child pornography. How is this happening?

There is a word that I imagine most of our parents are familiar with called \\u2018sexting.\\u2019 And I\\u2019ve learned this word from my teenaged clients and friends. Sexting is the act of texting in a flirtatious or sexual way. What we see more and more these days with cameras and videos on everyone\\u2019s phones is that our children, mostly our teenagers, but they\\u2019re still children under the law, are engaging in an act of exchanging photographs with their friends, and their boyfriends and girlfriends.

What they children don\\u2019t know is what they\\u2019re doing is a crime. It\\u2019s a felony crime in the state of Oklahoma to possess child pornography. It is a felony crime in the state of Oklahoma to manufacture child pornography. And it is a felony crime in the state of Oklahoma to distribute child pornography. Each and every one of those crimes is a registerable offense. How do our teenagers find themselves charged with possession, manufacture, or distribution?

Oftentimes, the situation is it\\u2019s a boyfriend/girlfriend, and one, or the other, for the purposes of our argument we\\u2019ll pick on the boys, sends a text to his girlfriend. They\\u2019re flirting back and forth and talking about all of the things they want to do to one another. And boyfriend says, \\u201cHey, why don\\u2019t you send me a pic?\\u201d Girlfriend, whether she\\u2019s inclined to do so, or not, ultimately decides she\\u2019s going to send a sexy pic of herself to her boyfriend because, \\u201cWho wants to be rejected? Who doesn\\u2019t want to give their boyfriend what he\\u2019s asking for?\\u201d And she takes a photograph of herself. If she is under the age of 18, she has now manufactured child pornography.

Once she has that has that photograph, or video, on her phone she\\u2019s committed the secondary crime of possessing the child pornography that she manufactured. And the moment she hits \\u2018SEND\\u2019 she has participated in the distribution of child pornography.

These are very, very serious crimes. Possession of child pornography, including showing it, or publishing it to others, or sending it, are all registerable offenses. They carry a minimum of 30 days and up to 10 years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.

We\\u2019ve talked numerous times on this podcast about this special kind of probation terms that you can receive in Oklahoma which include \\u2018deferreds\\u2019 and \\u2018suspendeds.\\u2019 And suspended sentences are, in fact, felony convictions. They will follow you for the rest of your life. A felony conviction cannot be expunged off of your record. Therefore, the law permits for deferred sentences. But in these cases, the state legislature has said that you are not entitled to a deferred. Which means that your precious 17-year-old child who was either the textor, or the textee, who is in possession of these sexy pics, is now a convicted felon for the rest of his, or her, life.

What a terrifying result for kids just doing what kids do. Unfortunately, ignorance of the law is not a defense. And, depending on where you\\u2019re located, and who your prosecuting agency is, the consequences can be quite grave.

If you solicit pictures of child pornography, ask for them, send out a request, it carries up to 20 years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. That is an \\u201885% crime.\\u2019 Again, there are no \\u2018deferreds\\u2019 and you will register for the rest of your life.

The fines are astronomical \\u2013 more money than teenagers can fathom making in their lifetime. So, it\\u2019s incredibly problematic. We owe a duty to our children to talk to them about sexting. To talk to them about the consequences of sexting.

And it\\u2019s important that we all know that just because we know it\\u2019s \\u2018just kids being kids\\u2019; the cops don\\u2019t care and the district attorneys don\\u2019t care. It is a violation of the law and they do arrest these children. And they do take them to jail. And they do, in fact, charge them with felony crimes. Sometimes these children will be charged in adult court; sometimes they will be charged in juvenile court. But, regardless, the consequences are life-long. You cannot go back and fix it.

So, as parents, and educators, and friends of kids, and aunts and uncles, we all have to be able to have these hard conversations. And nobody wants to go talk to their children about sex or sexting. And nobody wants to have a conversation as to whether, or not, their beautiful has sent nude photographs of herself, or if their handsome son is sending nude photographs of himself. But we owe it to them as their parents, and the people here to teach them, because ignorance of this law is no defense, and the consequences last a lifetime.

So, with all this information it sounds pretty desperate. That there\\u2019s no defense, and that our children are going to be destroyed forever. The fact of the matter is that\\u2019s not the case. That is the way the law is designed, but when you hire an experienced criminal defense lawyer who works in these kind of cases, we understand how to negotiate these matters and how to navigate you, and your child, through the incredibly traumatic criminal justice system.

These cases can be worked out. We can work with the district attorney to do things to mitigate the damages. Although, they\\u2019re not legal defenses as if we we\\u2019re in front of jury, there are ways to be able to save our kids in certain situations. So, if we\\u2019re a parent listening to this, I don\\u2019t want to leave you feeling sad and desperate and hopeless. That\\u2019s absolutely not the case. In fact, there\\u2019s a lot of hope and there\\u2019s a lot of light at the end of this tunnel. It\\u2019s just going to take some work.

So, you want to make sure when you seek counsel that you find someone who\\u2019s experienced in defending children who are charged in these kinds of child pornography cases. Who are familiar with sexting and the laws surrounding sexting in Oklahoma today. If you ever need any information on these matters, please feel free to contact our office. It would be our pleasure to at least be able to advise you, if not represent you and your child.