‘Teen sexters aren’t criminal’

RULES governing the way police record crimes should be changed to stop millions of children being criminalised for ‘sexting’, a group of MPs and peers warns.

Currently a teenager’s name can be stored for up to 100 years on the national police database if an officer is told the child sent an explicit image.

The guidelines could criminalise millions of teenagers who consensually share such images with their partners or friends.

This could harm their chances of landing a job because potential employers could learn of the incident if they were to conduct a criminal record check.

A study by the all- party Parliamentary Group for Children found children were ending up on police databases ‘simply for exhibiting behaviours associated with growing up or “experimental” behaviour, such as sexting’.