Adolescents Media And The Law

There is much controversy about the dangers of a free media when it comes to children and adolescents. Many believe that this constitutional right should be amended, altered, or revoked entirely to prevent the young from being negatively influenced. Graphic violence, sexual content, and the depiction of cigarette smoking have all come under fire as being unacceptable in media that is geared toward adolescents, from television and movies to magazines and advertising. Yet not much has been written about the developmental science behind these ideas, and what effects a free media really has on adolescents. This book presents a synthesis of all current knowledge about the developmental effects of a free media on adolescents. Levesque first presents a full analysis of research studies into the media's effects on adolescents in four key areas: sexuality, violence, smoking, and body image. All findings are assessed within the context of normal adolescent development. Levesque then discusses how this knowledge can be used to inform current standards for the regulation of free speech with regard to adolescents. Both legal restrictions and less formal regulatory bodies (schools, parent groups, etc.) are reviewed to present a full picture of the ways in which a free media is constrained to protect adolescent's development.

There is much controversy about the dangers of a free media when it comes to children and adolescents. Many believe that this constitutional right should be amended, altered, or revoked entirely to prevent the young from being negatively influenced. Graphic violence, sexual content, and the depiction of cigarette smoking have all come under fire as being unacceptable in media that is geared toward adolescents, from television and movies to magazines and advertising. Yet not much has been written about the developmental science behind these ideas, and what effects a free media really has on adolescents. This book presents a synthesis of all current knowledge about the developmental effects of a free media on adolescents. Levesque first presents a full analysis of research studies into the media's effects on adolescents in four key areas: sexuality, violence, smoking, and body image. All findings are assessed within the context of normal adolescent development. Levesque then discusses how this knowledge can be used to inform current standards for the regulation of free speech with regard to adolescents. Both legal restrictions and less formal regulatory bodies (schools, parent groups, etc.) are reviewed to present a full picture of the ways in which a free media is constrained to protect adolescent's development.

This textbook offers a foundation for understanding adolescents’ rights by articulating the complexity, breadth, and challenging nature of laws regulating adolescents. It showcases the Supreme Court’s key interpretations of the Constitution as it relates to adolescents’ rights. Chapters examine relevant legal systems and the social contexts that legal systems control. In addition, chapters discuss constitutional issues and their nuances through actual cases that often offer alternative interpretations of constitutional rules. The textbook guides readers through both well accepted and often ignored conceptions of adolescents’ rights. It offers readers unfamiliar with the law the tools they need to understand the importance of adolescents’ constitutional rights and how they can contribute to developing them. Topics featured in this text include: The role of parents and family systems in conceptualizing adolescents’ rights. The complexities of providing health care to adolescents. Religious freedom and adolescents’ rights relating to religion. The flaws of child welfare systems. The challenge of developing rights specifically for juveniles and delinquent youth. Juvenile court systems and the differential treatment of adolescents. The difference between the juvenile court system and the criminal court system. Adolescents’ media rights. Adolescents and Constitutional Law is an essential textbook for graduate students as well as a must-have reference for researchers/professors and related professionals in developmental psychology, juvenile justice/youth offending, social work, psychology and law, family studies, constitutional law, and other interrelated disciplines.

Children, Adolescents, and the Media, Third Edition provides a comprehensive, research-oriented overview of how the media impact the lives of children and adolescents in modern society. The approach is grounded in a developmental perspective, focusing on how young people of different ages and levels of cognitive, emotional, and social development interact with the media. Incorporating the most up-to-date research available, Authors Victor C. Strasburger, Barbara J. Wilson, and Amy B. Jordan target areas most controversial and at the heart of debates about the media and public health—equipping students to approach the media as critical consumers.

This book reviews broad social changes affecting youth development and the inconsistency of the legal system in updating its approach to adolescents’ rights. Legal experts examine current adolescent protections and offer research-based proposals for revising laws that underserve or criminalize youth under the rubric of protection. Focusing on the key areas of technology and media, education, and personal relationships, chapters discuss legal responses to a range of challenges impacting young people, including sexual exploitation, the right to privacy, military family issues, and the school-to-prison pipeline. The book’s nuanced concept of legal protection credits youth with greater competence than currently afforded, in hope that adolescents can take more ownership of their evolving lives in a rapidly changing society. Topics featured in this volume include: How to balance freedom of expression with adolescents’ right to data protection. The sexualization of media and its effects on youth attitudes and behaviors. The rising phenomenon of teenage sexting. Protecting students’ sexual identity in private schools. Youth sex and labor trafficking and possible solutions to alleviate the widespread crime. Adolescents, Rapid Social Change, and the Law is a must-have resource for researchers and professors, clinicians and related professionals as well as graduate students in developmental psychology, family studies, public health, educational policy and politics, and social policy.

A campus shooting. A gang assault. A school bus ambush. With each successive event, fingers are pointed at the usual suspects: violent films, bloody video games, explicit web sites. But to what extent can—or should—the media be implicated in youth crime? And are today's sophisticated young people really that susceptible to their influence? Adolescents, Crime, and the Media critically examines perceptions of these phenomena through the lens of the ongoing relationship between generations of adults and youth. A wealth of research findings transcends the standard nature/nurture debate, analyzing media effects on young people's behavior, brain development in adolescence, ways adults can be misled about youth’s participation in criminal acts, and how science can be manipulated by prevailing attitudes toward youth. The author strikes a necessary balance between the viewpoints of media providers and those seeking to restrict media or young people's access to them. And the book brings scientific and intellectual rigor to culturally and politically charged issues as it covers: Violence in the media. Media portrayals of crime and youth. Research on violent television programs, video games, and other media as causes of crime. Effects of pornography on behavior. Public policy, censorship, and First Amendment issues. Adolescents, Crime, and the Media is an essential resource for researchers, graduate students, professionals, and clinicians across such interrelated disciplines as developmental psychology, sociology, educational policy, criminology/criminal justice, child and school psychology, and media law.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat allow users to connect with one another and share information with the click of a mouse or a tap on a touchscreen—and have become vital tools for professionals in the news and strategic communication fields. But as rapidly as these services have grown in popularity, their legal ramifications aren’t widely understood. To what extent do communicators put themselves at risk for defamation and privacy lawsuits when they use these tools, and what rights do communicators have when other users talk about them on social networks? How can an entity maintain control of intellectual property issues—such as posting copyrighted videos and photographs—consistent with the developing law in this area? How and when can journalists and publicists use these tools to do their jobs without endangering their employers or clients? Including two new chapters that examine First Amendment issues and ownership of social media accounts and content, Social Media and the Law brings together thirteen media law scholars to address these questions and more, including current issues like copyright, online impersonation, anonymity, cyberbullying, sexting, and live streaming. Students and professional communicators alike need to be aware of laws relating to defamation, privacy, intellectual property, and government regulation—and this guidebook is here to help them navigate the tricky legal terrain of social media.

This book critically confronts perceptions that social media has become a ‘wasteland’ for young people. Law has become preoccupied with privacy, intellectual property, defamation and criminal behaviour in and through social media. In the case of children and youth, this book argues, these preoccupations – whilst important – have disguised and distracted public debate away from a much broader, and more positive, consideration of the nature of social media. In particular, the legal tendency to consider social media as ‘dangerous’ for young people – to focus exclusively on the need to protect and control their online presence and privacy, whilst tending to suspect, or to criminalise, their use of it – has obscured the potential of social media to help young people to participate more fully as citizens in society. Drawing on sociological work on the construction of childhood, and engaging a wide range of national and international legal material, this book argues that social media may yet offer the possibility of an entirely different – and more progressive –conceptualisation of children and youth.

This book grasps the duality between opportunities and risks which arise from children’s and adolescents’ social media use. It investigates the following main themes, from a multidisciplinary perspective: identity, privacy, risks and empowerment. Social media have become an integral part of young people’s lives. While social media offer adolescents opportunities for identity and relational development, adolescents might also be confronted with some threats. The first part of this book deals with how young people use social media to express their developing identity. The second part revolves around the disclosure of personal information on social network sites, and concentrates on the tension between online self-disclosure and privacy. The final part deepens specific online risks young people are confronted with and suggests solutions by describing how children and adolescents can be empowered to cope with online risks. By emphasizing these different, but intertwined topics, this book provides a unique overview of research resulting from different academic disciplines such as Communication Studies, Education, Psychology and Law. The outstanding researchers that contribute to the different chapters apply relevant theories, report on topical research, discuss practical solutions and reveal important emerging issues that could lead future research agendas.