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#1
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An Austin man wants to warn other parents and teenagers that statements made on social media websites can land them in jail.
http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/...212931111.html Please at least read the first half of the article with the comments and context. It was a bit too much to quote under snopes.com rules |
#2
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![]() Quote:
A few years back I recall someone in another game (World of Warcraft? I want to say it was a MMO) getting in serious legal trouble after making a joke about blowing up an airport (I want to say O'Hare maybe?) and then crying "I was just joking!". |
#3
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At one time I thought there was a difference between just making a threating statement and making a treating statement while taking actions that would make the stamen creditable. The first would at most get you a talking to by the police and other would get you arrested.
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#4
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I thought a threat had to be more specific, too. "He lives near a school" isn't the same thing as him referring to an actual school.
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#5
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It's actually hard to find people who DON'T live near a school.
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#6
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Too late to edit: I found the case of of the Warcraft player who made the threat about an airport, but that had included both a city, a place, and a specific time.
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#7
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@Kallah, are you maybe thinking of the Twitter Joke Trial? This was a UK case in which a man, frustrated by bad weather closures, tweeted
Quote:
I feel much the same about the message in the OP, it is a sarcastic comment, the meaning of which is clearly that just because he is a gamer does NOT mean he is a weirdo who is going to shoot up a school. No threat is made and he clarifies that in the next line. Last edited by Moku; 01 July 2013 at 10:28 AM. Reason: Oops, no you weren't thinking of the Twitter Joke, but it is relevant to how we deal with bad jokes on social media |
#8
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On the evidence available in the OP the jailing is an over-reaction given the context but the apoligism from the father is also wrong, 18 is not a child and the young man needs to take responsibility for threats made publically. A strong caution might be appropriate -or a fine.
Dropbear |
#9
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I wonder if there isn't some information missing. There doesn't seem to be any info coming from the law enforcement side in the article. I'd be a bit surprised that he's been in jail since March if all they have is what's quoted in the article.
ETA: This appears to be the law in question: http://www.bakers-legal-pages.com/pc/2207.htm If so, then I don't see how it applies to the OP situation without more than what's in the article. Last edited by erwins; 01 July 2013 at 11:43 AM. |
#10
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The comment was so obviously sarcastic that I don't see why he was arrested, if that was truly all it was.
If he said it spontaneously, that would be one thing; it was a clear response to someone saying he is "messed up in the head." |
#11
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It is worth noting that the article doesn't have the direct quote for some reason, but only the father's paraphrasing of it. I wouldn't be surprised if he was skewing things a bit to make the quote look a little more favorable for his son.
I have no doubt that Justin was making a deliberate reference to school shootings, very likely inspired by Sandy Hook but possibly just by the concept in general. If the father's paraphrase is representative of what Justin posted, I think the right response would be to bring him in, talk to him and do some quick investigation, just to be on the safe side. Charging him would be too much. However, I would not be surprised if the actual quote from Justin's posting was worse than his father's paraphrasing, and that could definitely change things. |
#12
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I tend to agree that assuming the description of his statements in the article are accurate this merited, at best, a quick followup.
If it was just 'shoot up a bunch of kids' it may have been worse, but the 'and eat their still beating hearts' pushes it well into 'clearly sarcasm' land. Not a very classy comment to make of course, but regardless of tragedy I think we need to be able to apply logic to these kinds of things, otherwise we end up with 'zero tolerance' stuff. |
#13
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Trying to find more info on this is difficult. The mom organized the petition on change.org and she links a number of news items that have covered this. She admits that this link is more "political," but says it's the most accurate.
The article says that Justin posted: Quote:
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#14
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I understand the parents being upset that their son was charged but I think I'd also be pretty upset that he said what he did j/k
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#15
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I was reading some of the comments today in one of the news articles. There was one I had to somewhat agree with. If the police took the time to monitor these online games poplar with teens, half the teens would be arrested for terrorist threats.
I do not agree with the half, but there sure is a lot of threating talk worse than what this person said on a few of the games. |
#16
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Justin Carter, the 19-year-old who was arrested and jailed in February after making a Facebook comment about a school shooting, is out of jail. An anonymous donor posted the $500,000 bond to allow Carter to go home. Carter plans to stay near New Braunfels, Texas, to await his trial on a felony terroristic threat charge.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechcons...medium=twitter |
#17
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"Freedom of speech" I guess.. Hope he does well at the trial.
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#18
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Unless there is more information than the defense lawyer and family are providing I think it's outrageous that this is even going to trial. That said, if he does go to trial and there is indeed "more to the story" the person who posted bail would still get it back wouldn't they? You don't forfeit bail money if the accused is subsequently convicted do you?
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#19
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Bail money is only forfeited if the accused fails to appear for trial. The outcome of the trial is irrelevant.
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#20
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Ken White comments on Popehat.
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Contrast this with Officer Christopher Picciano who was not charged with a crime. Quote:
One is a teen with no weapons keyboarding off in a game. The other is an armed and trained police officer with access to weapons. |
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