For that matter, the preliminary charges make this teen’s decision to photograph his own body and send it to another teen a far worse crime than if he’d simply showed up at the girl’s house, stripped off his clothes and proceeded to engage in sexual activity with her.
Taking off his clothes at her house would have been nothing more than indecent exposure, a misdemeanor. More importantly, unless the person has been convicted for other sexual-related crimes, there’s no sex offender registration tied to the charge.
Even if he’d pursued sexual contact with the other teen, it still would have been a better outcome than being branded a child pornographer. Michigan has no “Romeo and Juliet” law, so any contact between teens — no matter their closeness in age — could trigger statutory rape charges. (Obviously, if the sexual activity was not consensual, this would be actual rape, but there’s no reason to believe a [possibly] unsolicited naked photo rises to the level of aggravated sexual assault.)
If the activity was consensual, the worst charge would be statutory rape, which does not require sex offender registration for teens.
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