These days, even entry-level cellphones come standard with a decent digital camera and basic Internet access. That makes it easy to update your Facebook status or share pictures and video with family and friends in a matter of seconds.
But that convenience can lead to trouble, too -- particularly among teenagers and young adults who don't consider the consequences of their actions beforehand.
It's something that Chuck Hagen, a longtime Tippecanoe County deputy prosecutor, witnesses often.
"The younger crowd uses technology to its fullest extent, including the criminal aspect," he said. "... Everything is so easily recorded, so easily transferred, so easy to use.
"When I was in high school, it would take half an hour to load a photo. Now they just snap pictures of everything and share, at little cost."
Take, for example, the two former Faith Christian School students, ages 13 and 14, who admitted sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl last April in a wooded area near school property. Both were sentenced to an Indiana Department of Correction facility for youth.
According to court records, prior to the sexual assault, the 14-year-old took a photo of the victim topless, and without her knowledge, in December 2011. He then shared the digital image with other juveniles and used it to blackmail the girl for four months.
The same boy also recorded the April sexual assault, which lasted 45 minutes, and later watched it with other juveniles.
Technology did not prompt the crimes, but it played a key role in the blackmail and subsequent police investigation and prosecution.
The boy's behavior and actions fall under what the U.S. Department of Justice calls cybercrime, described as using a computer as a target, a weapon or an accessory.
According to the National Crime Prevention Council, it's just as important for parents, schools and caregivers to teach children about "cyberethics" as it is to protect them from Internet-related crimes.
"While youth who commit cybercrimes may realize that their actions are wrong, they may not know that their Internet behaviors are illegal," an article on the organization's website states.
Where all can see
With his office computer, Hagen recently shared how he can easily pull up Facebook pages for juvenile defendants he has prosecuted. Often the photos he uncovers can be used in court as evidence.
Hagen displayed the Facebook page of a Lafayette, Ind., boy whose cover photo is of him pointing a black handgun directly at the camera.
"Not only did he put that out there where I could see it, but he's sharing that with the world," Hagen said.
The most common photos that Hagen has found are of minors consuming alcohol or using drugs. It provides compelling evidence in court when minors insist they've been well-behaved.
"I can look up almost any kid on Facebook and see all the pictures they uploaded from their smartphone," he said. "Part of the problem is when you have parents who want their kids to be happy at any cost. They want to keep up with the other kids, so they get them fancy cellphones.
"What I definitely don't see are pictures of kids studying. And they don't realize that once it's out there, it's not going to go away easily."
As the lead crime scene investigator for the Lafayette Police Department, Detective Paul Huff has received specialized training on evidence recovery from computers and cellphones.
He's been able to recover everything from hidden child pornography to Internet searches from a cellphone Internet browser. Suspects wrongly assumed that such information had been deleted.
"Every time people get online, they leave some type of artifact," Huff said. "We basically see it all here."
Some smartphones, such as iPhones, essentially track every keystroke that a person makes, from chat logs to text messages, Huff said.
"Just four years ago, it was extremely difficult to get something that was deleted from a cellphone," he said. "Now it's much less difficult, though time consuming."
Huff also warns that just because something is deleted on the user's end, it can be saved by another party -- for instance, if speaking to someone via video chat.
So what can parents do? Hagen's best advice is to stay vigilant, even if children protest to phone or computer checks.
"You may know your kid well, but you will never know all of your kid's friends," he said. "All this technology does make it easy to see what they're up to. ... It's a way to connect with your kids, too, by having them show you how something works."
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