Blaming the victim?

Did you know that an underage person appearing in sexually explicit photos could be charged with child pornography? Well, it seems like that's the case here.

Two teenage girls face child pornography charges after posting sexually explicit photographs of themselves on the Internet.

The pornographic pictures of Elizabeth Muller, 19, of North Smithfield [Rhode Island], and an unidentified 16-year-old Lincoln girl were discovered on MySpace.com, a social networking Web site, said a spokesman for the attorney general's office.

The photos of the two teenagers together were posted on each of their respective Web site accounts, spokesman Michael Healey said. The 16-year-old was arraigned before a Family Court judge Monday on a charge of child pornography and violating a court-ordered curfew, Healey said.

Now, that just seems weird. I can understand how the 19-year-old, as an adult, would be charged with child pornography--and she is, but I would tend to think that the younger girl would be viewed as having been exploited. Maybe the age of consent in Rhode Island (which, according to this site is sixteen) comes into play here, but it still seems odd.

And of course the pictures were posted on MySpace. It seems like teens who commit crimes (or are about to do so) are drawn to MySpace like moths are drawn to a fire.