Social Media and Sexting Intervention: A New Juvenile Diversion Program

Abstract

Between consenting adults, the private electronic sharing of nude photos is generally not illegal. However, when adolescents mimic this adult behavior they are in possession of child pornography and/or engaging in the pandering of child pornography, both of which are crimes in the United States. To address this fairly new adolescent social “sexting” problem, the Social Media & Sexting Intervention Program was created. This is a curriculum based juvenile diversion program recently established in two counties in Wisconsin. The purpose of the current study was to provide a preliminary evaluation assessing the impact of the program. During the first year of the program, 66 adolescents were referred to the program by school resource officers and courts in the two counties. Of those 66 referrals, 61 adolescents were able to participate in the program. A pre/post-test design was used to assess knowledge gained and attitude changes. Overall, the results of the assessment indicate that the program is educationally promising. Perhaps just as importantly, the program protects adolescents from an overly punitive justice system.

Keywords:

• Teen sexting
• Juvenile diversion
• program evaluation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Due to the low number of individuals in various racial and ethnic categories, this category was collapsed. There were three Black participants, 5 participants who identified as biracial, mixed or other, 3 participants who noted they were Native American, and 6 participants who described their ethnicity as Hispanic.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Victoria Simpson Beck

Dr. Victoria Simpson Beck is a Professor of Criminal Justice at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. Her published works have appeared in a variety of academic journals and books and her research has focused on sex-offense policies and programs, rape myths and video games, and eyewitness accuracy.

Matthew Richie

Dr. Matt Richie is an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. His research focuses on jail recidivism and operations as well as pre-trial/post-conviction treatment diversion programming.

Bryan Wright

Bryan Wright is the Founder and Owner of Dynamic Family Solutions, LLC a company dedicated to developing educational curriculum to better benefit the lives of families and youth enduring life altering situations.

David Jones

Dr. David M. Jones is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He earned B. A. at Carleton Collen, M. A. at Duke University, and Ph. D. at the University of Kansas. His major research interests are legal interpretations of the Fourth Amendment.