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Basu: Can you prosecute a victim for her exploitation?

Rekha Basu

Here's an example from Knoxville, Ia., of the sort of sexual shaming that has become alarmingly common around the country, all too often leading a girl to shut down, drop out of of school or even try to end her life. But in this case, a prosecutor compounded the offense.

A 14-year-old girl gave in to a male schoolmate's request last spring to send him alluring pictures of herself, her lawyer confirmed. Via Snapchat, she sent two pictures in which her lawyer says she was scantily clad but showed no sexual parts and broke no laws. Then the girl learned the boy had copied and shared them through a mobile app that appears to be a calculator.

The school got wind of a larger sexting problem, according to the Marion County prosecutor — one involving some 30 or more students. Police investigated, and the prosecutor decided to treat everyone who had a role the same — including the 14-year old victim. When she and her family refused to have her take part in a juvenile court diversion program like the others, the prosecutor threatened to prosecute her. For sexual exploitation of a minor, as a juvenile.

Think about it. If the girl who was exploited is prosecuted and convicted, she could land on the sex offender registry as a sex offender — even if she didn't disseminate anything or coerce anyone to do anything unlawful.

County Attorney Ed Bull didn’t return a call to explain what led him to make such a threat against a victim who doesn't appear to have broken any laws. In a federal lawsuit the girl and her family have filed, they contend that to be prosecuted for nudity under Iowa law, her pictures would have to show a nipple or genital area. Nor could she be considered to be engaging in a sex act, they say. Her lawsuit says one photo showed her in a sports bra and boy shorts, and in another, she had no bra on but her hair covered her breasts.

In response to the lawsuit, Bull sent out a news release saying numerous juveniles were involved in the exchange of sexually explicit photographs. "Rather than take every juvenile to court, I looked for a solution that would help them learn from their mistakes and hopefully prevent their behavior from being repeated, while allowing them to avoid having a criminal or juvenile conviction or even a charge on their record," he said. He settled on a diversion program that included a class on the dangers of sexting, community service, restrictions on digital use, and a written admission of guilt.

That might be appropriate for those who actually did something wrong or illegal. Even the girl’s lawyer, Glen Downey, says the boys shouldn’t necessarily be prosecuted as adults. But what is a victim expected to learn from it?

Bull’s one-size-fits-all solution may be fine when there are no victims. But in this case, it suggests a basic lack of understanding of the dynamics of sexual exploitation. There’s a vast difference between knowingly sending someone compromising pictures of yourself, and sharing pictures of others without their permission. Some in this situation apparently abused their power, while others got tricked.

Marion County Attorney Ed Bull

A Knoxville student who knows something of the situation but asked not to be identified told me she believed boys were using pictures girls had sent them to extort them into sending more. She said some deleted their caches after others got caught, and parents refused to give the school permission to access their phones.

She also said there were many more boys storing and sharing pictures than were sent to the deferral program. And she wondered how many of the girls who sent pictures, and didn't realize they were being saved and "traded like trading cards," took the same punishment.

As for the then 14-year-old, she and her parents are asking a federal judge to block the county attorney from prosecuting her on constitutional grounds. They say it would violate her First Amendment rights and her parents' rights to raise their child as they see fit.

Significantly, in his press release, Bull referred to the lawsuit as "poor decisions of her parents and her lawyers." Downey says he has heard from a parent that the program shames girls by telling them "they were naughty for doing this." After refusing the diversion program, the girl was subjected over the summer to sexually explicit messages scribbled on her car while she was practicing softball, her lawyer said.

The Knoxville student I communicated with is outraged by the outcome of the case. “All this teaches young girls is that they are responsible for the actions of boys and don't actually own their bodies," she said, "and they have nothing to gain and everything to lose if they come forward to report sexual exploitation."

It's a disturbingly apt interpretation of a disturbingly harsh lesson for girls to learn.