Source: reason.com 9/14/22 by ACSOL board member Emily Horowitz
“I’m not saying my kid should get nothing,” says Eric Beyer Jr.’s mother. “But to take an 18-year-old kid and put him in jail for longer than he’s been alive?”
Teens using Snapchat. (Franviser | Dreamstime.com)
Let’s say you’re a 17-year-old boy asking two 16-year-old girls to sext you on Snapchat—well, that’s pretty normal these days, right? Let’s agree that it is.
Now, let’s say that you possibly paid the girls for their sexts, and then allegedly threatened to expose them unless they sent more of them. That’s not normal. It’s obviously immoral, probably illegal, and quite simply wrong.
But are you knowingly creating child pornography and transmitting it across state lines?
That’s what Eric Beyer Jr., of Hutchinson, Kansas, is accused of. He faces up to 70 years in federal prison.
“I’m not saying that I don’t think my son should be punished for that,” says Jessica Meloney, Beyer’s mother. “Absolutely, he should know what he did was wrong and should get in trouble. I’m not saying my kid should get nothing. Even if you want to give him five years, I’m okay with that, because I know he’ll never do it again. But to take an 18-year-old kid and put him in jail for longer than he’s been alive?”
Yeah the DA in my case waited till I turn 18 too, I was put on calendar at 17 the DA didn’t respond till I turned 18.
it’s extremely hard being a youth offender on the registry, when I took my deal I didn’t even know how to drive never even been behind the wheel never had a job didn’t have a credit score I really didn’t know nothing about life.
Im 41 now and Im still trying to pick up the pieces of my shattered life.
All I know of freedom is through the eyes of a child/teenager I don’t know what it’s like to be free as an adult in America.
That’s why I’m starting a nonprofit organization for youth offenders on the registry from age’s 17-19 to try to help them navigate life on the registry and let them know they’re not alone, and if I survived and made it this far so can they.
When did America go officially batshit? It’s been a process that has been ongoing for at least my whole life, I assume longer, but we seem to have blown past some invisible line…like way past…into crazy town. When did that happen?
I agree, what this young man did needs to be addressed, but utterly destroying his life isn’t going to stop the next person. When will Americans finally admit that these sentences make no sense and are just vicious, petty vindictiveness? Oh, right, never…part of the batshit…
Outdated laws regarding CP? No longer reflect the realities of the world we live in? Hmm… interesting idea. Can’t be! Laws never get outdated and become anachronisms…and that’s why we should keep hanging horse thieves! Only way to keep horses safe from the predators!
Punish, yes. Destroy? No, what is the purpose of that? Oh yeah, we can use it as part of our batshit excuses to do the same to the next several thousand people.
“Now, let’s say that you possibly paid the girls for their sexts, and then allegedly threatened to expose them unless they sent more of them. That’s not normal. It’s obviously immoral, probably illegal, and quite simply wrong.
But are you knowingly creating child pornography and transmitting it across state lines?”
I going to say yes it is, but we will never know the whole story. 70 years is to long. That life for a 17 year old.
Almost a sure bet that a 17 yr old that is not a career criminal already will either attempt or commit suicide when facing this sentence. They aren’t emotionally stable enough to deal with this punishment. Their life is being taken away so what do they have to live for. Long for the good old days when you got grounded for looking at your dad’s secret playboy stash.
I wanted to link this, , not because of the article itself, but for what the man’s sister was quoted for. With all the actions and rhetoric that this man voiced, She asked the court, “Not to judge a book by its cover”. Interesting point considering how we are judged on a daily basis by one word, registrant, the public having even less knowledge of our offense than this man’s.Yet we are being told there is a good man behind those violent actions and that disgusting sweatshirt. Well, there is surely a good kid behind the stupid actions reported in this article. How about we look at the person as a whole and not one moment in his life.
There is something wrong here with the FBI waiting months until the kid turned 18 years old.
Shouldn’t have the FBI intervened as soon as it was reported to prevent other potential victims? Instead, they waited.
If the FBI intervened ASAP, then the kid would still be considered a minor and “the punishment” would be far less.
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And then there’s this oddity in law:
You’re kidding me, right? I thought all the parties were in different states when the article cited it crossed state lines. I didn’t know that the info only traveled state lines. This is getting scarier and scarier to the point it’s better to not have a digital imprint at all.
Is it an open season? Fund for Pieper Lewis raises $200k+ in under 24 hours
Anyone wanna bet she is, or at least was, a supporter of registries? Now that her precious boy is going to be on it….someday…she’s finding it ridiculous. Welcome to Amerika, dahlink!
Pretty much everyone on the registry will “never do it again.”
“Then, at about 4:30 a.m., a SWAT team raided the house where Beyer lived with his dad and brother, and handcuffed all three”
Dam! Why all the drama?
Because this is what teens do. We had it happen to us too. My son is 17 and being charged with child pornography. The detective showed up and confiscated all computer equipment to wait 14 months to issue a warrant and send out about 8 unmarked officers with AR’s looking like they were going to war surrounding our house threating to break down the door. It’s all of the teens sending photos back and forth but it’s okay that girls have accounts on Only Fans making videos and making money. Parents if you think your kid isn’t doing it, think again. The true event is all the teens have access to online social media and are experimenting with their bodies unfortunately but look at what’s on NetFlix… 50 shades of grey. Why are the teens being held legally liable when the social media platform could take measures to avoid such behavior. It’s at their fingertips and destroying a teens life for electronic sexual interaction someone on the other end had to participate. No one was forced. No one was killed. At least these kids are out getting pregnant or trying to have abortions. I’d pick electronic sexual action over in person that could cause many counter reactions. Legislative needs to take another look at what’s really going on. Is it child porn. They are 16 and can drive you are someone’s child but not a 5 yr old. Let’s define what a child is and last time I check porn is those hollywood video with really good looking people doing nasty things. This is not child pornography. What dumb ass comes up with this stuff. Jury people, people living in a glass house shouldn’t throw stones. Make sure when you hear these cases that you look in the mirror. There’s a high % of society looking at porn. These kids had to have learned it somewhere. What were you doing as a teenager?