14 year old boy criminalised over naked selfie

Whatever the legal aspects of it this it must certainly have disrupted the trust that exists between teachers and parents, and teachers and pupils. Part of safeguarding is being able to deal with children in a sympathetic and understanding manner whilst fulfilling the legal requirements. The attitude taken to this could result in children who really need to discuss something being afraid to talk to a teacher about it for fear that they will find themselves dealing with the police. We were always told that the child should be told that although you could not keep the information they shared a secret it would only be passed on to other professionals who could help (social services). If there is abuse, particularly if a family member is involved, children often fear police involvement and need help to see things through.

Absolutely night owl. Plus, my experience of the police officer based in school issue that they were generally so good at working with "difficult" children and their often "very difficult" parents. To interview a boy who admits to an offence, without the benefit of his parents as appropriate adult or legal advice seems very very wrong to me. I don't in any way normalise or support his behaviour, which needs to be challenged but if I was his parent, I'd be taking legal advice on this.

I would certainly be challenging this aspect if it was my son. Like Iam I wonder if it was legal for the boy to be interviewed without his parents' knowledge. Even where abuse is alleged, social workers have to seek the consent of parents before speaking to children. Only if this is withheld would further measures be considered. The law stresses the importance of working in partnership with parents, and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act says that children cannot be interviewed without an 'Appropriate Adult' being present. This would usually be a parent unless there are good reasons to exclude them. I think the school, and the police have ridden roughshod over the spirit (if not the letter) of the law pertaining to children in this case, and have given a child (possibly three) a criminal marker in the process. This could have been dealt with much more sensibly.

Even if the boy was handled 'gently' he was still interviewed by the police without his parents knowing let alone being present.

That's helpful, Penstemmon, thank you. I realise that when a case of child abuse is possible the parents are the first suspects so have to be left out of the loop until at least a preliminary investigation has been carried out. It would explain why the school dealt with it without informing the parents. It still doesn't explain how juveniles can be 'logged' without due process of law!

Schools are in a tougher place at the moment re sexual exploitation.

New and stringent expectations about safeguarding are in place and schools, individual staff and governors can be held liable if they do not report incidents that may indicate a child is 'at risk'.

Sending what may have been a sexually explicit image to people can be a sign of exploitation /abuse etc. Schools by law cannot ignore this. You may think the law is an ass but it is what it is!

Sometimes the police based in schools are part of the staff team ..lines are more blurred now! So talking a situation through with a student in school may be less awful that going to a police station and calling in the parents. As we do not know the exact detail of how this actually took place it is hard to know if there has been a heavy handed approach or a more thoughtful one!

As an ex-teacher I did wonder about this and asked myself what I would have done. I couldn't see myself talking to the police with a child without their parents present because I would always be aware that it would not be something I would have wanted to happen to my own children.The only exception I could imagine was one school I worked in where there were a number of parents who were aggressive and difficult. Even so I would have wanted them to be able to support their child. I wonder how the school intends to continue educating someone who must now view teachers as people not to be trusted. Not to mention the parents who must find it difficult to work with the staff now.

I agree the parents should have been brought in at the outset.

(No apologies for an add-on post. )

My God! If "everyone's doing it", young people must be living in a pit of creepy horrible-ness!

Worrying.

www.nfer.ac.uk/nfer/publications/PCOX01/PCOX01.pdf is QI to read alongside this discussion.

Sorry to add on but I should have added my agreement to the concerns expressed about this boy being questioned at school by the school police officer and a teacher, without his parents either being informed or being present. If this isn't illegal, it's certainly very bad practice. If he'd been my son, I'd have been very cross with him on so many different levels but I'd have made sure he didn't end up with some kind of crime logged against him. The girl also distributed the photograph which means her name is logged.
It is even worse than the commonly used practice of persuading young people to take a caution and so avoid court.

Young people often respond with "everyone does it" when in fact, everyone isn't doing whatever it is, smoking dope, having sex or sending naked photographs.

I suspect mini bags is right though, when she says they all know it's illegal. Pornography is so much more easily available and to some extent is being normalised. I'm an old fashioned feminist who sees porn as risky stuff, especially for girls and women. I wish we had better sex and relationship education in schools. Yes, this should happen in every home as well, but sadly it doesn't

I talked to our resident fourteen-year-old about this case. Her response was: "Oh that! That's happened about sixty times already". I mentioned its illegality. She said that they all know it's illegal; they don't care. And she shrugged.

Perhaps the 'authorities' are trying to make these younguns care. Good luck with that.

I wouldn't know...

It's not easy to access porn on the internet anymore. You have to contact your internet provider, admit to wearing a dirty raincoat and ask them to unblock porn sites.

Parents and teachers need to talk about this to kids. And talk clearly so that they understand. I don't think there is always enough moral/ emotional guidance given at home to young people.

And why do children of this age need phones with cameras? Spoilt brats in the material sense and deprived in the emotional sense.

I suspect that one of the problems is the amount of easily accessible porn on the internet. If you can see pictures of people naked and engaged in sex acts quite easily you perhaps begin to regard such things as a part of normal life. Adding one of yourself would seem a small thing to do. Considering the legality of what you were doing would be unthinkable. Especially at the age of 14.

It's all a can of worms, and new worms which we are not used to!
Pictures, or words, once 'out there' cannot be taken back, and that goes for what we write on here too, it's all public for ever and ever.Quite a thought, isn't it?

If he'd been bullying the girl or she was upset I could understand it but it seems that, as she's been punished too, she wasn't bothered at all.

We can't assume that.
He may have been pestering her previously, and she reacted by speedily sending his photo on to others, in an attempt to humiliate him and get him to stop.

Good post JessM.

I am unhappy about the fact that a senior teacher can interrogate a child about something that he has done outside school, in the prescence of a police officer, without first informing the parents and it can then become recorded by the police. Police are not allowed to interview children in this way - but it seems that if the teacher does the interrogation in the presence of a police officer they can circumvent his rights and protections under the law.
Meanwhile the girl that circulated the images...?
"Sexting" is, unfortunately common practice amongst UK teenagers. This includes taking pictures of themselves involved in sexual acts and sending them to friends.
Schools have a responsibility to educate children about the dangers of this. Why?
Firstly because they teach PHSE (sex education) and if they do it well, this issue should be covered, and covered by the time the kids are 11 or 12. (Don't do it, why, what if someone else does it, what if someone asks you to do it etc etc)
Secondly because schools need to have up to date IT use policies to inform both staff and students about what is and is not proper use of school equipment, school software etc.
Thirdly because schools should have an anti-bullying policy - and be active in combatting bullying of all types.

Are girls who send photos of themselves to boys in trouble too? Silly, reckless and very embarrassing for him and his family but I agree with other if there was no sense of bullying then childish behaviour. I am far more concerned with young people being coerced into sending photos of themselves and then being blackmailed.

The ridiculous thing is, that as the law stands, if he had been 18, sent the photo to his girlfriend and she then distibuted it, he would be regarded as a victim of "revenge porn" and she could have been prosecuted!

Do you really believe they deserve a ruined future just for being daft at the age of 14? I did some really stupid things in my teens (admittedly not naked pictures) which I cringe about now as an adult.

If he'd been bullying the girl or she was upset I could understand it but it seems that, as she's been punished too, she wasn't bothered at all.

We may not agree with what the young boy did but surely the public humiliation was sufficient punishment in this case.