violent threats = jailtime?

aesir

So a student at my school, made some threats to shoot up the campus on an annonymous message board. The FBI tracked him down and arrested him.

heres the story: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/09/blogger.threat.ap/index.html#cnnSTCText

I was having an argument with my friend about what time of jail time is involved in something like this. Could anyone who knows a tad bit of law or similar situations shed some light.

Just a note, as far as I know, these weren't serious threats and were just posted as a prank, so lets just treat the situation with that assumption.


tl'dr : Can people be sent to jail these days for spouting bullshit on the internet?

Drez

Well, you say to post with the assumption that it was a prank but the crux of the issue I think it that it's impossible to really discern prank threats from real threats. There's a "freedom of speech" issue here, I'm sure, but I think one could consider an earnest threat of this caliber to represents a clear and present danger which not only legally limits freedom of speech but I believe is also illegal. Moreover, even a prank like this is harmful. A threat can be psychologically harmful, let's not forget, and in the current climate, with so many damn shootings all over the place, a prank like this - if it is a prank - is psychologically damaging to the people being threatened. It also wastes FBI manpower. And so on.

So I would say that for many reasons, yes, a prank of this type does violate particular laws. I am not a lawyer, mind you.

Shogun

"Spouting bullshit" and "making criminal threats to do bodily harm/death" are two different things. Anyone can spout bullshit. See Jack Thompson for example. This guy was not spouting bullshit. He was threatening to take lives. Felony at the very least.

Weretaco

I know in Canada "uttering threats" is punishable under the Criminal Code. I assume they have something similar in the US

EggyToast

People can be arrested and kept in jail; however, to be kept there past a "reasonable time" they need to be charged with a crime.

Once they are charged with a crime, they typically remain in jail unless they post bond, in which case they must return for the trial (or forfeit the bond money). They are then tried and, if convicted, sentenced to jail time or a fine, depending on the crime they are charged with.

If they are not charged with a crime, they are released from jail. If they are suspected of being involved in a crime, they are typically kept in jail longer while an investigation occurs, especially if they are viewed as a threat or they have a high chance of attempting to escape.

The key point is that being arrested and placed in jail is different from being "sent to jail" or "sentenced to serve time in a prison."

urahonky

Making threats against schools (joking or not) are going to be looked at very harshly since VA Tech and Columbine and other such terrible incidents. He will more than likely get a little jail time, and probably talked to by a counselor of some sort.

These kinds of threats aren't as harmless as they used to be, so I'm sure they'll be pretty harsh on the kid.

Thanatos

Making terrorist threats can absolutely land you in jail or prison. Will it? Not necessarily. Odds are, the kid is going to plea it down to a lesser charge and, depending on his lawyer, his previous record, and whether or not he's well-connected enough to have people pull strings for him, may or may not end up serving time.

aesir

yea, I agree with most of what you're all saying, but is there a law he's breaking? Of course its prudent for the cops to check up on this guy and question him and search his place, but are unfounded threats like this a crime?


(side note: there must be at least one death threat a day in Social Entropy, and the amount per minute on the internet as a whole would be staggering. How do you measure the level of seriousness of a threat on the internet that they bring in the FBI)

Dropping Loads

Even if it is determined that the threats were purely a joke, to the point where he didn't want any one to be frightened of his prank, he can still be charged on raising false public alarm. It's no different than yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater, the old standby example. It is not protected speech, because of wasted resources dealing with the issue and any potential damage caused by his threat being perceived as real (e.g. getting trampled by people running out a door.) In cases like this the default assumption is almost never, "they should have realized it was a joke." It is as dumb to assume people will figure out you're joking as it is to make that kind of joke in the first place, especially on the internet, where it is already hard enough to figure out the intent behind what people type.

Think of the Boston / ATHF debacle. Sure it was just a lit up sign, but there is no way for joe schmo civil engineer to know there is not a bomb attached to the back.

Thanatos

aesir wrote: »

yea, I agree with most of what you're all saying, but is there a law he's breaking? Of course its prudent for the cops to check up on this guy and question him and search his place, but are unfounded threats like this a crime?


(side note: there must be at least one death threat a day in Social Entropy, and the amount per minute on the internet as a whole would be staggering. How do you measure the level of seriousness of a threat on the internet that they bring in the FBI)

It's going to depend on what state he's in, what he's charged with, and whether he's being charged by the feds or the state, but yes, unfounded threats that have the potential to be taken seriously are absolutely a crime. If someone were to post in SE++ "I'm going to shoot up this school, then let the cops kill me," we would absolutely be reporting said threat to the FBI.

Dropping Loads

aesir wrote: »

yea, I agree with most of what you're all saying, but is there a law he's breaking? Of course its prudent for the cops to check up on this guy and question him and search his place, but are unfounded threats like this a crime?


(side note: there must be at least one death threat a day in Social Entropy, and the amount per minute on the internet as a whole would be staggering. How do you measure the level of seriousness of a threat on the internet that they bring in the FBI)

Individual death threats are handled differently because in many cases the true intent of a death threat is to terrify a specific individual, rather than to either 1, cause widespread chaos or 2, express an actual intent to kill the intended person. With nothing other than an internet death-threat targeted at a specific person, likely the only result would be a restraining order, which would have to be filed by the victim in their local court.

Sarcastro

I think in cases like these, the arrest is made so that the authorities are given the right to investigate and assess the threat properly, such as with a psychologist and a long drawn out chat. As mentioned, these things are going to start being taken way more serious in the recently highlighted fact that wackos often prelude their unlawful lead emmisions levels with Internet postings.

brandotheninjamaster

I can see him getting some jail time. Also doesn't what he did fall under planning to commit murder if you post something like he did?

P.S. I hope he wasn't an avid video game player.