More Carolina Craziness

The Carolinas just keep getting crazier and crazier:

Later this month, a North Carolina high school student will appear in a state court and face five child pornography-related charges for engaging in consensual sexting with his girlfriend.

What’s strange is that of the five charges he faces, four of them are for taking and possessing nude photos of himself on his own phone—the final charge is for possessing one nude photo his girlfriend took for him. There is no evidence of coercion or further distribution of the images anywhere beyond the two teenagers’ phones.

Similarly, the young woman was originally charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor—but was listed on her warrant for arrest as both perpetrator and victim. The case illustrates a bizarre legal quand[a]ry that has resulted in state law being far behind technology and unable to distinguish between predatory child pornography and innocent (if ill-advised) behavior of teenagers.

On July 21, 2015, the young woman took a plea deal whereby the felony charges were dropped, but she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, which will be expunged after she completes a year of probation. Over the next 11 months, she is not allowed to possess a cell phone, among other restrictions.

 What's even crazier?

The two teens have to face the charges as adults.

"You must keep in mind that juvenile court jurisdiction in North Carolina ends at age 16, so 16- and 17-year-olds, as in the Fayetteville case, will automatically be charged in adult criminal court with no option for adjudication in delinquency court," Tamar Birckhead, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, told Ars. "Another irony here is that these two teens could have legally had sex with each other in North Carolina, yet they are charged with felonies for texting sexually explicit photos of themselves to each other."

Huh? If they're adults, then this sexting is not child porn! 

This is clearly nonsense, and you have to wonder what these cops were thinking when they filed these charges. Well, wonder no longer:

These kids are black.

The cops just took it upon themselves to search these kids' phones, and when they found nekkid pitchers they finally had a way to get 'em.

Way to go, North Carolina. Not content with harassing blacks while they drive, shop, and walk down the street, your cops now invade teenagers' privacy and appoint themselves the sex police.