What starts as a flirtatious sending of a nude photo could end in prosecution of young “sexters” as child pornographers in New Jersey, but Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt, D-Camden, is trying to change that.

“Younger generations are ones filled with people more comfortable with their sexuality and that’s okay,” Lampitt said. “However, we need to create guidelines and limitations.”

Her bill, which would place first-time juvenile senders and receivers of explicit photos on computers or cellphones into an educational program instead of prosecution, awaits a Senate hearing after its 78-0 approval last week in the state Assembly.

The bill only applies to the transmission of photographs of other juveniles, not verbal text messages considered harassment, said Laura Cohen, a clinical professor at Rutgers School of Law-Newark.

“The kid can’t have any prior convictions for any offense involving sexual behavior,” Cohen said. “They must be unaware at the time of transmission that it was a criminal offense.”

Lampitt said the juvenile courts will customize the diversionary educational program for each person, but it might include attending a class or writing an essay.

“Kids make mistakes,” she said. “If they’re prosecuted then they are labeled as a sex offender and they have other restrictions placed upon them. They can’t move out of state and they must self-disclose this information on job and college applications.”

Because minors might make the impulsive decision to send a nude photograph, education is better suited for them as it can impact them throughout life, Lampitt said.

“We should allow them this opportunity to fully understand the educational process,” she said.

The current law considers sexting a second-degree criminal offense, which could result in about 10 years in prison despite the age of the person convicted, Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, R-Union, said.

“If you take a 16-year-old high school student who sends a photograph to a boyfriend, that’s still considered a second-degree felony,” he said. “Not to have an alternative to what could potentially have catastrophic consequences would be unreasonable.”

Bramnick said the law should evolve as technology does.

“If historically transmitting a photograph of someone under the age of 18 was a second-degree felony, it was before the concept of sexting was in the minds of legislators,” he said.

If someone is offered the diversionary educational program and rejects it, he or she could still be prosecuted under the law, along with those more than 18 years old who transmit nude photos of a minor, Cohen said.

“It’s really meant to get at kids engaging in what has become common behavior,” she said. “You only get one chance to learn why it’s not okay and if you do it more than once, you’re going to be prosecuted.”

Lampitt thinks teenagers need to understand the dynamics of fast and evolving technology and sharing nude photos.

“I don’t think it’s new to people to take nude photos of one another,” she said. “With a negative, you can rip it up or throw it away. With sexting, digital is forever. It’s always out there — delete doesn’t delete because someone can recall it fast and furious.”

Bramnick said teenagers should be aware of the consequences of sexting.

“A young person can be marked for life and go to jail, the bill is not law yet,” he said. “It’s important that other states do this as well because we don’t want kids in prison for doing something stupid or senseless just because the laws haven’t caught up with technology.”

The Assembly showed strong bipartisan support of the bill last week, which Lampitt said does not happen often.

“I think people thought it was a good bill,” Lampitt said. “You can look at the latent issues that concern the people of New Jersey and make a positive impact.”

Bramnick said there was so much support because it is clear that prosecuting a first-time younger person as a sex offender is unreasonable.

“It’s very difficult to argue why there shouldn’t be an alternative sentence or option for a judge dealing with a 15-year-old who sexted a photograph,” he said.

Cohen said the educational program would help teenagers realize they are overstepping boundaries.

“When teenagers engage in this kind of behaviors, they’re not thinking of the impact of the image’s transmission on the person in the photo,” she said. “If it teaches them why it oversteps boundaries and how it is harmful to other people, it will probably be more effective than prosecuting them.”