A Legal Response is Necessary for Self Produced Child Pornography: A Legislator's Checklist for Drafting the Bill

Susan H. Duncan, University of Louisville

Abstract

This Article explores self produced child pornography, known in the media as “sexting,” and offers a balanced, multi-faceted approach including both a legal response and education. Currently, states are modifying their laws because applying existing child pornography statutes to self produced child pornography results in a punishment which does not fit the crime. The author analyzes and critiques these proposed statutes finding none adequately address the multiple facets of the self produced child pornography problem. The Article concludes by offering a checklist of important provisions legislators should consider and proposed language legislators can incorporate into their bills. Policymakers and scholars will gain an excellent summary of both the problem and the arguments advanced by scholars studying the issue, as well as a template for solving the problem after reading this Article.