Young adults 15 - 19

What is sexting?

You may have heard lots about sending nudes or rudes, or sexting. But what does it actually mean?

Sexting includes naked pictures or ‘nudes’, ‘underwear shots’, sexual or ‘dirty’ pics. It also includes video.

You could be sending these to a boyfriend or girlfriend, or someone else.

Why shouldn't I send nudes?

Once you send an image you lose complete control over what happens to it. It doesn’t jump straight from your phone to the other phone you are sending it to. It can find its way to places you might not want it to or fall into hands that you didn’t mean it to.

You may also feel that everyone is taking and sending nudes and you are the only one who is not. That is not true. Even if people are talking about it and are saying they’ve done it that’s not always the case. Never feel pressurised to do anything you don’t want to, including sexting someone.

Did you know? If you take and send 10 naked pictures of yourself almost 9 of them are going to end up somewhere else on the internet.

What is the law about sending nudes?

In the 1970s, the government created a law. The law stops adults from having pictures of naked or abused children. These images are child abuse images. In this law, child means anyone under 18.

Lots has changed since the 1970s, including technology, but this is still a law.

Anyone who takes, sends, shares, or has a naked image of someone under the age of 18 is breaking the law.

Here's an example. If you are 16 and take an image of yourself in your underwear for someone, you are breaking the law. The person you send it to would be breaking the law as they have a photo of someone under the age of 18 in their underwear. If they send the photo to their friends, the friends have also broken the law as they now have a copy of the image too. You can see how this can get out of hand.

It is illegal but the police will help you and safeguard you in the first instance if you are involved in sexting. If you send an image and it all goes wrong always speak to an adult who you trust straight away.

It’s also helpful for you to know that your school and college have powers to deal with incidents of sexting. Sometimes they will have to report it to the police or other agencies.

What will the police do if I report sexting?

The police will always help you and stop any harm coming to you in the first instance. Police must record any reported incidents of sexting.

What happens after this point depends on the situation itself.

Police will look at something called 'aggravating' factors. This means the sexting does not have any of the following:

• There is not a big age difference between the people sending and receiving the images
• Someone has not pressured or blackmailed you into sending images
• You have no previous incidents of sexting or other relevant offences
• No one involved is under the age of 13
• No one involved is over the age of 18
• There isn’t an intent to harm you and there is no violence involved
• No one is making any money or profit from the images
• There aren’t any signs of grooming

If this is the case the police have the power to use something called ‘outcome 21’.

What does outcome 21 mean?

Outcome 21 means the police have recorded this on a police system but will not be taking any further action. Instead, they will provide you with information and support.

This does not mean that you have a criminal record. But it does mean that your information is on a policing system.

If you have nothing else like this on a police system, it's unlikely to appear on a background check. This means that it probably won't show up if you have a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. A DBS check may happen when you are applying for a job or university, for example.

On its own, this incident will not stop you travelling to different countries.

What does it mean if there are ‘aggravating’ factors?

This means the sexting involves one or more of the following:

• There is a big age difference between the people sending and receiving the images
• Someone has blackmailed or pressured you into sending the image
• You have had previous incidents of sexting or other relevant offences
• Someone involved is under the age of 13
• Someone involved is over the age of 18
• There is an intent to harm you and there is violence involved
• Someone is making money or profit from the image
• There are signs of someone grooming

If this happens the police will investigate this as they would any other crime. The outcome of this will depend on this investigation.