There ought to be a law

With the announcement today by St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas that no charges will be filed in the Megan Meier case, the public outcry over this case will now focus on passing new laws to cover this type of situation. If the ordinances passed by Dardenne Prairie and Florissant or any indication, we are wasting time and money on this issue. So what can be done? A good place to start is by looking at the facts of the Megan Meier case.

Megan Meier case: According to Banas an 18 year old employee (Ashley Grills) of the mother (Lori Drew) of one of Megan Meier's friends created a fake MySpace account to find out what Megan was saying about Drew's daughter. The account was set up by Grills, with Drew's knowledge, in the name of Josh Evans, a 16 year old boy new to the area. Drew, her daughter, Grills and another teenager had access to the account. The fake Josh and Megan became Internet friends with the permission of Megan's parents. At some point Josh turned on Megan and started sending mean messages to her. Megan replied to these messages by sending back mean messages to Josh. One of the last messages received by Megan said something like "the world would be a better place without you." Banas stated this message was sent by Grills. Megan, who was 13 at the time, committed suicide sometime after receiving the last message and her parents contend the messages sent from the fake Josh are, at least partially, to blame. 6 weeks after Megan's death her parents found out that Josh was not real and that Lori Drew was involved in setting up the account.. The Meyers went public with this information about one year later.


Current Laws: Banas reviewed laws regarding stalking (565.225), harassment (565.090) and child endangerment (568.045 and 568.050) in deciding whether to bring charges in this case. According to an article in the Suburban Journal, Banas said that he concluded that the intent of those who created the fake MySpace account did not meet the criminal threshold. Many who have called for new laws claim that the existing laws do not cover Internet harassment. However, the stalking statute makes specific mention of electronic communications while the child endangerment law covers any "acts" that create a substantial risk to the life, body, or health of a child. The harassment law covers "written communications" except as to those provisions directly related to telephone harassment. It should also be noted that Banas did not claim that charges were not brought because this was on the Internet but that there wasn't the requisite intent, Banas did, however, state that the harassment law could use some work.


What were the wrongful acts: Before drafting a new law, it is important to look at what wrongful acts you are trying to criminalize. I think the main anger here (some of which may not, in fact, be true in this case) is that an adult created a fake person to communicate with a minor in a mean and manipulative way. However, we can't outlaw meanness so any action should be focused on the contact between an adult and a minor. And in that regard most parents don't want adults contacting their children without the approval of a parent.


What can be done: Is MySpace really your space? In Missouri we allow people to put their name on a no call list to keep solicitors from calling their home. We also restrict people from coming on to your property through trespassing laws. Maybe we can incorporate these ideas to protect minors on the Internet. Any minor would be required to post a "no adults allowed" sign on their profile or account. Contact with minors by adults would then only be allowed with the permission of a parent or guardian and the adult making the contact would have the burden of proving this consent. However, permission to contact the minor is invalid if it is obtained through false information. We could then provide for civil penalties or criminal sanctions depending on the conduct of the adult.

Of course, the most important aspect of any law is parental oversight. However, I think such a law addresses the concerns many have regarding children on the Internet without going to far. Let me know what you think.