XOb (Aftab Sexting a Federal Crime)
Cybersafety Queen Parry Aftab leads national effort to make sexting a federal crime Link
Lawyers for Children are Unconstitutional in PA
No surprise here: legislation requiring any juvenile who appears in court to be represented by a lawyer would be unconstitutional according to PA Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille.
This is PA's official judicial response to the Luzerne County PA scandal in which former Common Pleas judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan pleaded guilty in February to taking $2.6 million in bribes to put juveniles in private detention centers. Hundreds of youngsters were sent to facilities without the benefit of legal counsel.
State Senator Lisa Baker, a Republican who ...
XOb (PA Judicial Corruption)
Corrupt PA juvenile judge claims "judicial privilege" shields him from lawsuits for illegal juvenile prison terms Link
Sexting Victim is also the Perpetrator
More on the criminal prosecution of the 14 year old NJ girl who posted 30 nude images to her MySpace account:
A key hurdle for prosecutors is that technology has outpaced the legal system. Most states don't have laws specifically addressing teens who transmit explicit images, a practice sometimes referred to as "sexting."
The only New Jersey laws applicable to the Clifton case are those designed for sexual predators and child pornography traffickers, said Parry Aftab, executive director of the nonprofit group WiredSafety.org.
Nonetheless, the consequences could be ...
XOb (CLC Health Advocacy Project)
How lawyers help kids: Children's Law Center's Health Advocacy Project makes a real difference in children's lives Link
Sexting Students Strike Back
Whether it's just a fad or something more, the sexting issue continues to make headline news. Here's an interesting twist to the teen craze from where else but Pennsylvania.
Today, child porn advocates from the ACLU of PA will ask a federal judge in Scranton to issue an injunction to protect three teenage girls from the threat of criminal charges for using their cell phones to take and send semi-nude images of themselves.
The suit accuses the Wyoming County DA of violating the three girls' First Amendment rights and seeks a court declaration that the images "are not child ...
Masha Allen Update: “Irreconcilable Differences” Delay Justice
Last fall we published a definitive statement on Masha Allen's pending wrongful adoption litigation, publicly expressing a long-held concern that "a traumatized, abused and exploited child like Masha needs a competent and independent decision maker to protect her legal rights and guard her pecuniary well being."
Now Masha's third attorney in three years, high-powered litigator Robert N. Hunn, is withdrawing from representing her citing "Irreconcilable differences" with Masha's mother Faith Allen. According to Hunn, "the irreconcilable differences have made it impossible ...