Before this change, minors could be convicted of felony sexual exploitation of children
Georgia made it a misdemeanor for someone at least 14 years old to send a sexually explicit photograph to someone 18 years old or younger, if the purpose of distributing it was not for harassing, intimidating, or embarrassing the minor depicted, or for any commercial purpose. 20 With this statute, Georgia reduced the charges and punishment for minors involved in sexting. This conviction would come with a sentence of 5 to 20 years' imprisonment and fines up $100,000.
South Dakota enacted legislation in 2012, establishing the definition of sexting and declaring it a misdemeanor: No minor may intentionally create, produce, distribute, present, transmit, post, exchange, disseminate, or possess, through any computer or digital media, any photograph or digitized image or any visual depiction of a minor in any condition of nudity, or involved in any prohibited sexual act. 21]. South Dakota also specified that it would be an affirmative defense if the minor had not solicited the visual depiction and does not “subsequently distribute, present, transmit, post, print, disseminate, or exchange the visual depiction, and that the minor deletes or destroys the visual depiction upon receipt.” Creating an image of oneself without ever distributing the image was also established as an affirmative defense.
22 The author noted that because advancements in technology are outpacing the law, a multidisciplinary approach including social and educational as opposed to legal responses might be more appropriate. 
She also emphasized the role of child psychologists and psychiatrists in educating teenagers and their families. Another author, writing for The Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy, proposed using parents and schools in addition to the legal system in attempts to deter and punish juveniles engaged in sexting. 23 This author advocated for schools to provide education on the risks of sexting to all students and to enforce zero-tolerance policies for students engaged in sexting.