The SEXTO intervention procedure has been deployed in recent months in the majority of Montreal high schools in order to counter the troubling phenomenon of sexting among adolescents. Obtaining a recidivism rate of less than 3%, police and judicial officials believe they have “hit the nail on the head” with this method, which emphasizes prevention rather than the filing of criminal charges against young people.
A typical case of sexting is that of two young people who are dating and who exchange naked photos of themselves via cell phone. At the time of the breakup, the person who does not accept it widely distributes photos of his ex-boyfriend. We can also think of the case of a young person who confides to her friends that she received photos of a naked person by text message and who relays them to prove it and be accepted.
Except that the experience can be very traumatic for those who see their photos circulating: they may be ridiculed by their peers and even be victims of bullying.
“Sexting is a growing problem,” notes Commander Marco Breton, of the Sexual Exploitation Section of the Montreal Police Service (SPVM), which can involve multiple young people. from different schools given that the distribution of images via the Internet occurs at the speed of light.
This is why he is delighted that the SEXTO initiative is now in place in the metropolis to facilitate the treatment of cases of sexting in schools by 12 to 17 year olds. He describes the collaboration between Montreal schools as “excellent”.
The procedure was imagined in 2016 by the Police Department of the City of Saint-Jérôme, in collaboration with the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP). Since then, the vast majority of Quebec police forces have followed suit, confirms Me Maxime Ouellette, prosecutor for the DPCP and head of the SEXTO project.
The SPVM, whose territory has a large number of educational establishments, took on the task last year and trained its patrol officers and socio-community agents. Currently, nearly 130 schools in the metropolis — out of 171 — are already participating.
Child pornography
Many adolescents do not know this, but when a minor takes a photo or video of himself undressed, or of a sexual nature, it may be the production of child pornography, an offense under the Criminal Code. The young person who receives such a photo and transmits it to his friends also commits a crime, namely the distribution or dissemination of child pornography.
Sexting — a contraction of the words “sex” and “texting” — continues to claim victims. Since 2016, 1,415 files have been opened as part of SEXTO and 4,712 young people have been met throughout the province, which however excludes cases which were not reported in a school environment, but rather directly to the police. In Montreal, in just a few months, 35 cases were reported to the SPVM through the SEXTO procedure.
And since last year, Me Ouellette also sees worrying cases of “hyperfaking” circulating, notably where a young person takes a photo of a teenage girl in a swimsuit, then “undresses” her using a computer application. The dissemination of such an image is just as traumatic for the victim. “I see more and more of them,” confirms the commander.
Far from the courts
SEXTO offers a way to intervene “extrajudicially”, that is to say outside the ordinary court system, without trial or criminal record (called “adolescent file” for those under 18 years old) , in most cases. It also allows action much more quickly: a case is resolved in a maximum of four days, whereas according to the traditional process, it could take 12 to 18 months between the police complaint and the DPCP’s decision to to file charges or not, explains Me Ouellette.
The mechanism also offers a clear and defined intervention framework, which is reassuring for those involved in schools, they reported to Me Ouellette. Many are also reassured by the fact that the intervention is educational, and not punitive, since it does not impose a heavy legal file on the adolescent. They were trained to use the intervention kit — which advocates kindness and non-judgment towards young people — with an incident evaluation grid. The school then hands it over to the police, who contact the DPCP to determine whether the dissemination of the images constitutes an “impulsive” act – the majority of cases – or a “malicious” one.
If it is an impulsive act, young people and their parents will have an “awareness meeting” with police officers, which aims to prevent repeat offenses. But if the DPCP determines that it is a malicious act — aimed at revenge, humiliation or extortion of money — a criminal investigation could be carried out by the police, which will potentially lead to prosecution, just as in cases of recidivism.
“The majority of young people do not have bad intentions. We want to educate them and make them aware of the consequences of sexting, and the reality is that the recidivism rate is less than 3% of all young people who have benefited from the protocol since 2016,” says M.e Ouellette.
In terms of prevention, “the message is really not to share intimate images”, underlines Commander Breton. “It’s this step that’s crucial, because what happens afterward is hard to control. »