Should Online Jokes Be Criminal?

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If saying stupid stuff online was a crime, half of us would be locked up right now. ;)

The internet is full of attention-seeking trolls and snarky teenagers. Is the law current enough to deal with their offensive comments and threats? "His comment was facetious. It was also rude and inappropriate. But they were trash talking," says Don Flanary, a lawyer who has taken on the case pro bono.
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Darwinism at it's finest.

Don't make threats. Not in person, not by phone, and for heaven's sake NOT ON THE INTERNET.

The bail is way high since they do that "house arrest" bracelet for actual murder suspects.
 
Rap stars talk about shooting people all the time in their songs.

Why aren't they in jail for it? (rappers being in jail jokes aside!)
 
Should be criminal? No.
Your country? USA.
Have you made online jokes? Some many I can't even keep track of.
 
I think a hearing is appropriate to determine if the threat was real or a joke and if a joke a milder sentence is appropriate (500 hours of community service or something) rather than jail time ... but it would be irresponsible for authorities to ignore something once it has been brought to their attention ... otherwise, how would you recognize the real threats from the poorly mannered jokesters ;)
 
Uttering threats is still uttering threats, the medium doesn't matter.

People forget that the stupid shit they post on the internet is published, and it's permanent.

Take out a full page add in the New York Times about shooting up a kindergarten, see who laughs. But this threat is non-specific the stupid kid didn't actually threaten anyone, it probably doesn't count under those laws. I don't know how those laws work in the US, but I'm reasonably certain they couldn't be applied here. Now bullshit anti-terror laws can be applied to people who put too much mustard on a ham sandwich.
 
This dumbass deserves everything that he has gotten and is coming to him. He should have known better.

From the article:
_68579990_threat.jpg
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This is classic case of over reacting by the police and the justice system as a whole.

Sure threats need to be taken seriously but we also expect law enforcement to use their damn brains for something beside selecting donuts and put some thought into if a comment is an actual threat or not.

This ranks right up there with students suspended for bringing a toy guy to school, or the eagle scout who was expelled for having a pocket knife in a backpack in the trunk of his car.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
Uttering threats is still uttering threats, the medium doesn't matter.

People forget that the stupid shit they post on the internet is published, and it's permanent.

Take out a full page add in the New York Times about shooting up a kindergarten, see who laughs. But this threat is non-specific the stupid kid didn't actually threaten anyone, it probably doesn't count under those laws. I don't know how those laws work in the US, but I'm reasonably certain they couldn't be applied here. Now bullshit anti-terror laws can be applied to people who put too much mustard on a ham sandwich.
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This kind of thing has already happened here in the USA for basically similar statements. AAMOF, it happened to a poster on another major tech forum when they were trolling...ended up having a $100,000 bond and sitting in jail til trial...which eventually wound up with charges being dismissed.
 
XamediX said:
This dumbass deserves everything that he has gotten and is coming to him. He should have known better.
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You beat me posting that.

Now that I'm viewing the article on a larger screen.
I agree he needs to be looked at.
 
I think it depends on the context. If it's a joke, that's fine.

But, going online and threatening people or threatening to shoot up a school then getting called out on it and then claiming it was a joke or whatever.... Sorry, dude.

There is a thin line there. I joke with people, but threatening physical harm? That's too far. Unless you know the person and they know you are joking. You have to be a special kind of stupid to get pissed off and threaten to shoot up a school. I think the most threatening thing I've said involved not paying for a hooker by killing her and taking my money back.... On GTA4.
 
Was going to post about how there has to be a reasonable fear of bodily harm by the party receiving the threat for it to be punishable. However I read the article and well.. stupid is as stupid does. I'm all for protected free speech, but that was so far over the line that it is literally impossible to determine if it was real or fake.
 
This kid is a shitty waste of DNA, but he didn't quite commit a crime. At least from the info I got in the article. They do need to investigate, though.
 
Its obviously a joke. Bad taste, but still a joke. The worst that should have happened to him is the police pay him a visit and maybe $300 fine for wasting their time.

With a country full of oppressive people with skins this thin, its no surprise its full of crazies.
 
These a very specific threats, that's the problem. If authorities had ignored this and he had gone through with them then people would be clamoring why something wasn't done. Is it an overreaction? Yes. Can you ignore stuff like this? Absolutely not.
 
jpm100 said:
People here realize this is NOT the quote from the kid in jail?
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In February, Justin Carter, then 18, was engaged in a Facebook dispute with someone from his online gaming community. The gamer called Carter mentally disturbed on a public wall, and Carter, with withering sarcasm and a teenager's poor judgment, wrote back:

I think Ima shoot up a kindergarten

And watch the blood of the innocent rain down

And eat the beating heart of one of them.
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I agree that there was an overreaction here but there's no way that authorities can simply ignore this kind of stuff.
 
jpm100 said:
Its obviously a joke. Bad taste, but still a joke. The worst that should have happened to him is the police pay him a visit and maybe $300 fine for wasting their time.

With a country full of oppressive people with skins this thin, its no surprise its full of crazies.
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How is it obvious? I read the threat/joke several time and see nothing obvious about it being a joke. Was James Holmes' threat a joke? Adam Lanza's? Well no, obviously not - in hindsight.

This needs to fall into the "shouting 'fire' in a movie theater" category of something we just do not do.
 
jpm100 said:
People here realize this is NOT the quote from the kid in jail?
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That is my bad. I got confused as to who they were referring to. Elliot / Carter / Elliot... But his actual words weren't that far off. He won't go to jail, but I'm not sorry he couldn't make bail. Let the idiot rot for a bit.
 
Azhar said:
This needs to fall into the "shouting 'fire' in a movie theater" category of something we just do not do.
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It's even worse than this considering the horrific shootings that this nation has seen for years in schools. If I ever came across something like this from someone I didn't know I'm contacting the authorities.
 
heatlesssun said:
It's even worse than this considering the horrific shootings that this nation has seen for years in schools. If I ever came across something like this from someone I didn't know I'm contacting the authorities.
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As you should. I don't think anyone is saying we should ignore comments like that. The real debate is over the legality and context.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
As you should. I don't think anyone is saying we should ignore comments like that. The real debate is over the legality and context.
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These aren't jokes, these are direct threats. Making threats even in a joking manner has always been problematic because you have no idea of the state of mind of the person making the threat nor their intent. That's the issue here.
 
third parties shouldn't read too much into comments they didn't have contextual knowledge of.

It's LOL players talking shit, assumptions by people outside the situation are baseless and shouldn't be considered in arresting someone.
 
heatlesssun said:
These aren't jokes, these are direct threats. Making threats even in a joking manner has always been problematic because you have no idea of the state of mind of the person making the threat nor their intent. That's the issue here.
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Which is why I said issues like this need investigation and due diligence. However, it is unlikely the kid will see a conviction as there is no proof of intent (from what I got out of the article).

Comments and "jokes" like this shouldn't be ignored.
 
heatlesssun said:
These a very specific threats, that's the problem. If authorities had ignored this and he had gone through with them then people would be clamoring why something wasn't done. Is it an overreaction? Yes. Can you ignore stuff like this? Absolutely not.
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heatlesssun said:
I agree that there was an overreaction here but there's no way that authorities can simply ignore this kind of stuff.
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Who is saying they authorities should ignore something like this?

There is a huge middle ground between ignoring something and over reacting to it, the problem is so many people have become so hyper sensitive to anything even remotely offensive that they instantly fly way, way off the handle.

The leaders in Iran have repeatedly threatened the US, if we followed this same logic used in locking up this kid we should have sent the nukes flying since afterall, we can't simply ignore it can we?
 
Investigate it, sure. But what evidence was there that he had any intention of carrying it out? Was he stock piling guns, making bombs, selecting targets in the yearbook? Doesn't seem like there was anything to indicate he was serious (as far as I've read anyway).

I doubt there is one of us that hasn't gotten mad enough at some point to say something stupid. Then we cool off and forget it. No need to start throwing people in jail over it. And for 10 years? And people wonder why our jails are overcrowded.
 
The thing that guy said was pretty awful. I don't think $500,000 bond awful causing him to be locked up indefinitely until trial, but really...you can't go around saying anything you want whenever you want and not expect something to come of it. Especially something that terrible and graphic.
 
DarkStar_WNY said:
Who is saying they authorities should ignore something like this?

There is a huge middle ground between ignoring something and over reacting to it, the problem is so many people have become so hyper sensitive to anything even remotely offensive that they instantly fly way, way off the handle.

The leaders in Iran have repeatedly threatened the US, if we followed this same logic used in locking up this kid we should have sent the nukes flying since afterall, we can't simply ignore it can we?
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3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
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James 3 NIV

I did say I believed that this was an overreaction but an 18 year old talking about shooting up a kindergarten in this day and age is going to start a fire.
 
This article doesn't even post his FULL comments.

He said "lol and j/k" after he posted the comment.

Some people's sarcasm detector's are off. Sarcasm is protected under Free Speech.

It's not a specific threat to any person or specific school and it is obvious he was joking with a friend, but people other then his friend saw it and over reacted.

Of course police can investigate it, but obviously when they see he had no intention of doing it (no weapons or any evidence he planned to carry out any action) the case should be dropped easily.
 
Sadly this is what happens when sexually frustrated teenagers watch too much reality TV and view the world through materialistic aviator glasses & suddenly realize they aren't part of the club they assumed they were in.

"I am jack's total lack of surprise".
 
Azhar said:
How is it obvious? I read the threat/joke several time and see nothing obvious about it being a joke. Was James Holmes' threat a joke? Adam Lanza's? Well no, obviously not - in hindsight.

This needs to fall into the "shouting 'fire' in a movie theater" category of something we just do not do.
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For one, his entire comment stream is not in the article including a j/k disclaimer. Second, although done publicly, it wasn't a declaration to the public but a comment to a friend who knew the context.
Third, if anyone adds, 'eat their still beating heart' to anything they say, they are not to be taken literally and probably not seriously.
Fourth, no specific kindergarden was identified as the target.

And 'shouting fire in a movie theatre' can cause people to be trampled. This only caused offense from what I can tell.
 
jpm100 said:
For one, his entire comment stream is not in the article including a j/k disclaimer. Second, although done publicly, it wasn't a declaration to the public but a comment to a friend who knew the context.
Third, if anyone adds, 'eat their still beating heart' to anything they say, they are not to be taken literally and probably not seriously.
Fourth, no specific kindergarden was identified as the target.

And 'shouting fire in a movie theatre' can cause people to be trampled. This only caused offense from what I can tell.
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Unfortunately the law is not that nuanced until you actually get into the justice system ... He said something incredibly stupid (even by sarcastic standards) and is now learning a harsh lesson about it ... even before the NSA I always assumed that anything I put in a public forum could be compromised ... people confuse the right to say stupid things with the right to say stupid things without penalty ... I would hope the DA decides he isn't a threat or they offer him a non-felony plea to get him out of the system but the police were perfectly within their rights to arrest him pending an investigation ;)
 
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