September 01, 2019

Two of Catholic Law Professor Mary Leary's articles were just cited by the Maryland Supreme Court in a case, In re S.K. The court upheld the conviction of a minor female who had sent two classmates a video of herself engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The youth was charged with distributing child pornography and the question was whether or not someone who was in a pornographic video could be convicted of distributing child pornography. The state Supreme Court agreed with the lower court that the law does apply to such situations, but voiced concern that the legislature consider alternatives.

The articles were:
Self-Produced Child Pornography: TheAppropriate Legal and Societal Response to Juvenile Self Exploitation, University of Virginia Journal of SocialPolicy and the Law, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2008)

and

Sexting or Self-Produced Child Pornography – The Dialogue Continues: StructuredProsecutorial Discretion within a Multi-Disciplinary Response, University of Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, Vol. 17, No 3 (2010)

The case specifically referenced a term Leary coined: self produced child pornography. Combined, these papers have been downloaded from SSRN nearly 1200 times.

Professor Leary was also quoted by the Washington Post about this case prior to its decision.