Cell phones and the use of social media have changed the environment in schools, and principals recognize all too well that new technology is almost always accompanied by new ways to misuse or abuse that technology. The addition of a camera to cell phones has unfortunately been accompanied with the serious problem of "sexting" by youth…

While freedom of speech is a defining characteristic of the United States, the First Amendment right is often regulated within certain environments. For years, schools have attempted to monitor and regulate student communication both within the educational environment and in student use of social media and other online communication tools.…

Victims and survivors of sexual violence are sometimes blamed for the assault because of irrelevant factors such as how much they had to drink or what they wore. Research has indicated that conservative religious beliefs increase the prevalence of victim blaming. In order to see if this pattern extended to college administrators, we used a…

One central controversy with youth sexting is that adolescents may be prosecuted under child pornography and obscenity statutes that were originally created to protect children from sexual exploitation perpetrated by adults and do not adequately address consensual teen behavior. Due to this concern, many states have implemented laws specifically…

This exploratory analysis examines the role of the Internet in juvenile prostitution cases coming to the attention of law enforcement. The National Juvenile Prostitution Study (N-JPS) collected information from a national sample of law enforcement agencies about the characteristics of juvenile prostitution cases. In comparison to non-Internet…

In May 2008, the Supreme Court addressed whether the government can regulate the ownership and distribution of virtual child pornography. "U.S. v. Williams" marked the first time the Court directly addressed the concept of pandering virtual child pornography. This article examines the Court's decision in "U.S. v. Williams" and…

This article reports on how the current must-have tools of adolescent social networks--cell phone text messaging, Web sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and e-mail--are being used by teachers and other school employees who prey on students to foster inappropriate relationships and perpetrate abuse. When the sexual abuse of students by educators…

Many people fear that the current explosion in mass media technology is negatively affecting individuals and society via-a-vis considerations related to the accessibility of pornographic materials. The way this accessibility affects young people is of particular concern. In this article, the author addresses these concerns from the legal and…

This hearing, the third in a series, was held to further consider proposed legislation (S. 2856) amending the Sexual Exploitation of Children Act of 1977. Specifically, federal child pornography laws were examined to determine how the interests of children could best be protected without unduly restricting First Amendment guarantees of freedom of…

Detailed analyses of three Supreme Court cases dealing with the First Amendment that are awaiting oral argument are provided. The cases are Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Philadelphia Newspaper, Inc. v. Hepps, and city of Renton v. Playtime Theaters, Inc. (RM)

Incorrect access to Web site addresses and spam e-mails are continuing to make pornography rampant on the Internet at schools, homes and libraries. Collectively, parents, teachers and members of communities must become more aware of the risks and consequences of open access to the Internet, and the distinction between censorship and Internet…

A collection of 12 articles, this yearbook focuses on freedom of speech and censorship. The topics covered include (1) common law tort and contract erosion of the at will rule, (2) the Supreme Court and the First Amendment in 1983-1984, (3) a phenomenological analysis of the First Amendment and the issue of obscenity, (4) John Milton's attack on…

The recent "Urofsky v. Gilmore" decision considerably narrows the scope of academic freedom by rejecting arguments that faculty members in public colleges and universities have a constitutional right to academic freedom. In "Urofsky" the court ruled that professors do not have a constitutional right to view sexually explicit material on computers…

Argues that there is no principled way to distinguish between the language used in the television program "Scared Straight" and that used by comedian George Carlin on radio station WBAI-FM, ruled indecent by the Supreme Court in "FCC v. Pacifica Foundation." (FL)

Explores the exemplar and nexus arguments structuring the debate on acceptable teacher conduct outside the classroom. The exemplar argument holds teachers to a mandatory role model standard. The nexus argument views teachers' private acts as protected unless job performance is affected. While nexus (via court litigation) has protected teachers'…