Red Barnet says rules stigmatise teens as risks to children

Red Barnet says teenagers are being punished too harshly for illegally sharing intimate images, with convictions also appearing on child-related criminal-record checks for ten years. The organisation says this can stigmatise young people as potential abusers of children, even when they show no signs of being sexually interested in children, DR reports.

Under the law, illegally sharing an intimate image of someone under 18 is treated as child pornography. The record check is intended to prevent adults who are sexually attracted to children from working with children or being close to them through clubs and associations.

“The young man who did something stupid when he was 17 is not necessarily in any way sexually interested in children. He has just done something really stupid,” said Pernille Spitz, Red Barnet’s head of protection against abuse.

A criminology thesis from Aalborg University, presented this summer, found that teenagers are typically convicted for sharing a single intimate image, usually involving someone their own age. Red Barnet says a mark on the record check can remain for ten years and hinder young people from becoming football coaches, applying to police school or working as substitute teachers.

The record check does not include every sexual offence involving a minor. An illegal image of someone under 18 can be recorded, while the rape of a 16-year-old is not, because the victim is over 15. “The child record check is not up to date. We need to review it so that it provides stronger protection,” Spitz said.

Several students at Syddjurs Gymnasium, an upper-secondary school, also described the punishment as excessive. One of them, Karla Bonde, said the image in the case of an anonymous teenager named Noah was clearly edited as a joke and did not make her think he would become a paedophile.

Noah received a 14-day suspended prison sentence for sharing a clearly manipulated image showing a penis over the face of a girl his own age. The image was shared on Snapchat. Another student, Stefan Funch, said the ten-year mark seemed excessive because it could prevent Noah from working with children as a teacher or handball coach.

Employers and associations must obtain the record checks when adults work closely with children. But the check shows the offence provision, not the circumstances of the case, said Nicolaj Sivan Holst, a law professor at Aarhus University. Employers cannot tell whether a conviction involved, for example, a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old partner, serious abuse material or a single image of a young person in underwear.

It is not illegal to hire someone with a mark on the check to work with children. But Holst said employers might be reluctant to take the risk because they cannot see the details of the case.

A study by criminologists Melissa Kristensen and Sara Anta Sow Pilehave reviewed 51 cases and found that teenagers often receive suspended sentences for sharing intimate images, yet still get a mark on their record check despite no signs of sexual interest in children. Six years ago, several Danish political parties discussed changing the rules, but no change followed. From the new year, the penalty for sharing sexual material involving children can be four years in prison, while possession can carry a two-year sentence.