A status offense is an action that is prohibited only to a certain class of people, and most often applied only to crimes committed by minors.
A neutral definition may be "[a] type of crime that is not based upon prohibited action or inaction but rests on the fact that the offender has a certain personal condition or is of a specified character.
[citation needed] Some sexting laws and broadly interpreted child pornography laws have effectively made sexting by a minor into a status offense, but it is treated by the legal system as a criminal offense, punishable by long prison terms and large fines.
These acts may be illegal for persons under a certain age, while remaining legal for all others, which makes them status offenses.
Status offense may also apply to other classes, including laws forbidding ownership of firearms by felons, where such ownership is otherwise legal; or residence within a given distance (typically, in America, ranging from 500 feet (150 m) to 2,500 feet (0.76 km) depending on local laws) from a school or other place where children congregate, for persons on a sex offender registry only.