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Not every crime that happens is prosecuted (almost the opposite, really), particularly with something like this that is embarrassing to the victim. Doesn't seem that unrealistic to me.
"It's just a show; I should really just relax"
Even in situations like that? It seems unusual that the one who posted the photos wouldn't have legal actions taken against him.
They'd have to report it first, and press charges, and kids don't necessarily want to get other kids in trouble — because they're afraid of that kid's friends, or because they're friends with them themselves, and so on. Police are sort of a last resort — the law is there if it needs to be, but when it comes to sex it's really more a job for parents and maybe counselors.
It's like kids using drugs at every Wild Teen Party. Yeah, it's illegal, and yeah, obviously the cops can figure out when it's been happening. But prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law isn't necessarily the best use of police/court resources, and Scare 'Em Straight has generally been disproven as far as teaching lessons goes.
Edited by Unsung
^ So, in itself, no legal actions being prosecuted is Not A Trope? I've seen this scenario in a lot of works but I always assumed it was the writers being unrealistic.
^ Realistically, you shouldn't call cops if you can still resolve the situation by yourself somehow
We can never truly eradicate the coronavirus, but we can suppress its threat like influenza
It's also part of the complicated concept of Legal Disgretion
- that is, most governments recognize to some degree that it is not always useful to enforce laws, particularly when more harm may come from the enforcement than from the crime, or when the victim chooses not to participate in the trial. The latter is unfortunately common in cases like your example, where the victim would rather not experience the publicity of a trial involving a traumatic event.
I always figured this was covered under some child pornography laws, but I guess it's not. Oh well, I guess it's not so weird in media then and can't be troped. Every other cyberbully work seems to revolve around lewd pictures being leaked and it always striked me as weird how the police never got involved.
I've noticed a lot of media features high schoolers (or younger) sexting and such without any repercussions. For example, one had a thirteen year old send a boy a nude photo, he posted it online, and all that happened was bullying. That seems unrealistic due to it being illegal. Would that be categorized under a trope? Artistic License – Law?
Edited by Pichu-kun