Teens who traded nude pics of girls like “baseball cards” likely won’t see jail time

Prosecutors say a group of teenage boys in Nova Scotia who shared nude photos of teenage girls “as bartering chips or baseball cards” should be sentenced to two years probation.

The six youths, who can’t be identified because they were under the age of 18 when the offenses occurred, pled guilty this year to sharing nude photos of 20 teen girls, aged 13 to 17, in a Dropbox account in 2015, without their consent. They were slated to be sentenced on Monday, but the hearing was postponed until September.

In court documents obtained by various media outlets, the Crown argues the young men, all from the Bridgewater area, should be placed on probation for two years rather than see jail time. The Crown also wants the young men banned from using social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat.

“They treated the victims’ sexual integrity as bartering chips or baseball cards that could then be traded and circulated amongst friends,” according to a brief presented to a Nova Scotia court by senior Crown attorney Peter Dostal, and quoted by CBC and the Canadian Press. “This objectifies the female victim and undermines their autonomy.”

Dostal told reporters outside the courthouse on Monday he expects the defence to pursue a lighter sentence. On the other hand, a judge could impose a harsher sentence than the one being recommended by the prosecution.

“This isn’t a prosecution of just people sexting,” Dostal said. “This is a prosecution of people misusing these materials, disseminating them and potentially putting them out there for the whole world and that is the real evil that the criminal has been attempting to stop.”

In an agreed statement of facts, the girls, whose identities are also protected, described how they came to share the images with the boys: One felt pressured to do so to avoid rumours spreading at school; another said she was asked for photos of certain body parts and reassured she could trust the recipient; and yet another said she had a crush on the boy who approached her for photos. None of the victims said they had given permission to distribute the images. A total of 61 images were documented, some of which were labeled using the girl’s name and a body part.