Eric's Story (not his real name) In 2006, my son Eric, then 22, was arrested for chatting online with a 15-year-old girl. They were just friends and had never met in person. But one day when he thought he was chatting with her for a few moments, he was actually chatting with her father. Eric had stated on many occasions in the chat records, "I wish you were legal" in response to her. Eric was arrested and later charged with multiple felony counts of "Computer Aided Solicitation of a Minor". In Louisiana, one count carries a mandatory 2 to 10 year sentence. For chatting online and saying the wrong thing five different times, Eric was looking at a possible 50-year sentence for consensual chat only. We hired an attorney and the attorney quickly informed us there was no way to "win" a case that the state brings against anyone with that particular charge because it was fairly new and they wanted convictions and government funding.  Plus the laws make up every kind of suspected "defense" and create the law saying "It is not a defense if......" and they update it as they get new defenses.  They wanted to make an example with my sons case.  Since my son has been in prison, he says guys are coming in and going out FAST for having sex with minors - and he continues to sit in there for chatting about sex, what is up with that???? After Eric was released on bail, while awaiting his trial, he moved out of his father's house and moved to my home in Texas. (with permission, of course)  He got a couple of odd jobs, and then he saw an ad for job openings at a Chevrolet dealership in a nearby town.  It was one of the worst weather days of January 2007 with icy roads but he wanted the job so bad he drove all the way there. He got the job and then moved to his own apartment in that town.  He was 23, and finally made it out of the nest, living in his own place for the first time. He worked hard and was a very successful tax-paying citizen. Meanwhile, Eric's attorney attempted several times to plea bargain for a more appropriate punishment. He asked the DA to take into consideration that this was Eric's first offense of any kind;  that he was not a predator since he never attempted to meet her, and it was just consensual chat. But the D.A. refused to reduce the charge to a lower offense with probation and counseling and made sure that Eric would have to register as a sex offender, the DA nor the Judge would budge, they wanted Eric to spend a minimum of 25 years in prison to 50 years if we dared to go to trial.  People wonder why these young men plea bargain, THIS IS WHY!  They are threatened to take the plea! My son was advised to plead guilty. In late 2007, Eric pled guilty and was sentenced to 3 years in prison and registration as a sex offender for 10 years (25 if they add the Adam Walsh Act and use it retroactively and lifetime if the Governor of Louisiana has his way and makes it retroactive. P.S., they passed the AWA in 2008, so it is now 25 years he does have to register!!!) Eric's life, and the lives of our family's were turned upside down. Most of us were there to be with him as he walked off with the jailer. It was the hardest thing I've ever dealt with in my life, to see my son go away when I knew what a good person he was inside and out. He is a kind, considerate, gentle Christian that made one mistake with one girl, never met her, never knew where she lived, never attempted to meet her and said in the chat records "I wish you were legal" because he would not break the law. None of us imagined that ONLINE CHAT could be such a serious crime and a felony???? Eric is scheduled for parole in 2009 after serving 16 months, he will then serve 20 months on parole. Now we've learned that there is a "Child Safety Zone" 500 feet from any church, school, day care center, arcade or park here in Texas according to a Parole Officer named Walker in Huntsville.  If he moved in here, there is no way to drive more than two miles in either direction of our home without driving past a church. Yet he is supposed to find a way to get to Huntsville once a week for a "group" meeting and pay $35 each time he goes, pay another $125 for an evaluation and $225 for a polygraph. All without passing by a church, school, daycare center, park or arcade. There is NO possible way to do that here. He also cannot go to Wal-Mart because there are more than 3 arcade-style games inside the store. Louisiana, where Eric's dad lives, and Texas have a parole system which is a "set up for failure" for sex offenders, no matter how minor their offense. No distinction is made between a violent offender with a high risk of re-offending and a non-violent, consensual, no risk offender!  My son is not interested in children, would rather die than hurt a child, yet he is considered to be "unsafe to be in a child safety zone" ?? Texas cannot afford to keep building more prisons. For the 1st time, 1 in 100 Americans are behind bars. 16.9% of Texans work for the Prison system. That is the highest percentage of all 50 states! Think of all the beneficial programs that keep getting cut in order to pay for the correctional system.  (this is according to the PEW report that you can find online) All sex offenders are lumped together and must comply with these laws regardless of what they were convicted of. These laws are unconstitutional, cruel and unusual punishment. The punishment does not fit the crime. These laws were passed for "Public Safety" but only people who are a danger to children or those convicted of violent crimes should have to register as sex offenders. My gosh, my son worked at a day care center!! He is not and never has been a danger to anyone. He made one mistake, one time, one girl, what a mess. There needs to be discernment between consensual and violent crimes.   People need to be able to pay their debt, serve their time, and then be allowed to get on with their lives. The laws are supposed to be for the people, by the people. Please consider this Mother's point of view. From my perspective, my son is a victim of the current legal system. The system took a hard working, tax-paying, was what he thought to be a law abiding citizen from society, into an overloaded, overcrowded correctional system only to be a burden to society. Now please compare the damage to my son, compared to his so-called victim. How damaged is she because they chatted, because he said, "I wish you were legal" instead of "goodbye". My son's life has been destroyed. Instead we have over 600,000-registered sex offenders, and growing. It's the new Scarlet Letter. They are ostracized by society and left jobless, homeless, hopeless, and in fear for their lives from vigilantes. What ever happened to equal protection under the law? NOTE: I found out that if my son had had actual physical contact with a 15 year old, it would have incurred NO prison time for a first offense!  Compare that to chatting - and do we see an awful use of justice here?  Absolutely!  Yet the Governor of Louisiana continues to make more and more harsher penalties for ALL registered offenders, no matter what the circumstance or crime.  That governor cares NOTHING for the people of his state, only about bringing these what he calls "Monsters" more punishment and ostracism.  Texas is becoming just as bad - this has to stop.