In a strange twist of the child porn laws, a teen in Pittsburgh is charged with child pornography for taking pictures of herself and posting them on the internet. Law Prof Michael Froomkin says:

To me this seems a real case of arresting a victim, the person the rule is designed to protect, and a fairly poor use of prosecutorial discretion. I could vaguely understand it if it were a profit-making business, but this sounds from the admittedly sketchy news report as if it’s more a case of a confused, probably lonely, child who needs counseling (and friends), not a trial and a police record.

It’s true that child porn is an unusually strict liability crime, in which possession alone, without intent or even knowledge, constitutes the offense. It’s also true that police and prosecutors are not always reasonable about some kinds of offenses. Still, this prosecution simply cannot be what the drafters of this statute had in mind.