UK jails another for saying offensive things on the internet

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sure. Why not?

[GMantis]

Sure. Why not?

I've made a mistake. It should be: "So freedom of speech is valid only if no one threatens you over it?"

[Filuwaúrdjan]

If you like.

[GMantis]

If you like.

So you do think that?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Possibly.

[Link]

A jail sentence was possibly an over-reaction though.

Oh, maybe you didn't see this happened in the UK.  It's very fair for the UK.  There are all kinds of things you can get arrested for over there...

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Link.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

I am horrified that there are people on this forum that think a jail sentence or formal punishment for non-threatening/non-libelous speech is okay.  I fear our generation will be the first since the dark ages to inherit a world less free than the way it was found.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I understand that shouting 'fire' in a crowded theatre is regarded as an unpopular form of speech.

Holmes made that analogy in 1919 to uphold imprisonment on the basis of anti-conscription speech. Thankfully, that decision has been overturned.

[minionofmidas]

link

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Is this the name of the crime?
Is their a difference between saying something on the street and writing it on the internet?

Of course. Legally, I think everywhere in the world that has laws on the issue, writing something on the internet is much more akin to publishing a book.

Which is a problem since that's not remotely how people actually behave, but there you are. (Of course it still couldn't lead to any kind of sentence in the US, and not to this kind of sentence in this kind of case in Germany; that much is classic British Populist Nannystatism.)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Being somewhat more serious now, there is a certain sort of Magistrate that loves handing down this type of sentence. You saw it over the riots last year as well, of course.

[Silent Hunter]

link

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Is this the name of the crime?
Is their a difference between saying something on the street and writing it on the internet?

Of course. Legally, I think everywhere in the world that has laws on the issue, writing something on the internet is much more akin to publishing a book.

Which is a problem since that's not remotely how people actually behave, but there you are. (Of course it still couldn't lead to any kind of sentence in the US, and not to this kind of sentence in this kind of case in Germany; that much is classic British Populist Nannystatism.)

What do people get for swastikas in Germany?

[minionofmidas]

Short answer: Nothing.

Long answer: The "showing of the ensigns of an organization hostile to the Constitution" may be punished with a fine or up to three years imprisonment. Enforcement is highly variable - if the magistrate want to nab someone they consider an enemy, and that person is for once a neonazi rather than an "Autonomer", this paragraph is an excellent tool if he's dumb enough to do that. Carry an original design nazi flag at a nazi march with a previous criminal record related to your politics, and you may very well look at six or nine months unprobated. Usually though, no one gives a f**k.

[YL]

Here's another one I feel a bit uneasy about.  Stupid and offensive, yes, but 8 months in jail?

[Silent Hunter]

Here's another one I feel a bit uneasy about.  Stupid and offensive, yes, but 8 months in jail?

4 months of that was for breaching of a suspended sentence for cannabis possession.

[Franzl]

Here's another one I feel a bit uneasy about.  Stupid and offensive, yes, but 8 months in jail?

4 months of that was for breaching of a suspended sentence for cannabis possession.

Ah much better, only 4 months for the "offensive behavior" then.

[dead0man]

disgusting

[bore]

This isn't a good decision at all, but what makes the story really interesting is he's from my mum's home town, whose only other claim to fame is being the home of Danny Boyle.

[Mr. Morden]

This isn't a good decision at all, but what makes the story really interesting is he's from my mum's home town, whose only other claim to fame is being the hoe of Danny Boyle.

That's an awful thing to say about your mother.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

This isn't a good decision at all, but what makes the story really interesting is he's from my mum's home town, whose only other claim to fame is being the hoe of Danny Boyle.

That's an awful thing to say about your mother.

His mum's a gardening tool?

[minionofmidas]

This isn't a good decision at all, but what makes the story really interesting is he's from my mum's home town, whose only other claim to fame is being the hoe of Danny Boyle.

That's an awful thing to say about your mother.

His mum's a gardening tool?

A total tool to Danny Boyle.

[Bacon King]

Here's another one I feel a bit uneasy about.  Stupid and offensive, yes, but 8 months in jail?

4 months of that was for breaching of a suspended sentence for cannabis possession.

Ah much better, only 4 months for the "offensive behavior" then.

It's actually an 8 month sentence for the offensive behavior; the other 4 month charge is concurrent.

While the sentence is a bit harsh, I'm pretty sure something like this would be prosecuted similarly in the United States. I'd argue wearing and publicly displaying a shirt that reads "One Less Pig, Perfect Justice" and "Kill A Cop For Fun," immediately after two local cops were killed in the line of duty, would quite obviously be "fighting words" which aren't Constitutionally protected. Under Georgia law it'd count as "disorderly conduct" which carries a maximum sentence of a year in county jail.

[GMantis]

Here's another one I feel a bit uneasy about.  Stupid and offensive, yes, but 8 months in jail?

4 months of that was for breaching of a suspended sentence for cannabis possession.

Ah much better, only 4 months for the "offensive behavior" then.

It's actually an 8 month sentence for the offensive behavior; the other 4 month charge is concurrent.

While the sentence is a bit harsh, I'm pretty sure something like this would be prosecuted similarly in the United States. I'd argue wearing and publicly displaying a shirt that reads "One Less Pig, Perfect Justice" and "Kill A Cop For Fun," immediately after two local cops were killed in the line of duty, would quite obviously be "fighting words" which aren't Constitutionally protected. Under Georgia law it'd count as "disorderly conduct" which carries a maximum sentence of a year in county jail.

He didn't call for murder, how often does this need to be repeated?

[danny]

Here's another one I feel a bit uneasy about.  Stupid and offensive, yes, but 8 months in jail?

4 months of that was for breaching of a suspended sentence for cannabis possession.

Ah much better, only 4 months for the "offensive behavior" then.

It's actually an 8 month sentence for the offensive behavior; the other 4 month charge is concurrent.

While the sentence is a bit harsh, I'm pretty sure something like this would be prosecuted similarly in the United States. I'd argue wearing and publicly displaying a shirt that reads "One Less Pig, Perfect Justice" and "Kill A Cop For Fun," immediately after two local cops were killed in the line of duty, would quite obviously be "fighting words" which aren't Constitutionally protected. Under Georgia law it'd count as "disorderly conduct" which carries a maximum sentence of a year in county jail.

He didn't call for murder, how often does this need to be repeated?

"Kill A Cop For Fun" can certainly be seen as calling for murder.

[Bacon King]

Calling for murder would be incitement, not fighting words Related, but distinct, concepts.

"fighting words" is basically speech that's so blatantly hateful, obscene, and directed that it's something an average person would understand that it's very liable to cause a spontaneous breach of the peace (e.g., saying something when you shouldn't be surprised if someone punched you for saying it). In Georgia, it used to be a valid defense for simple battery, if the victim had directed "fighting words" at the aggresor immediately prior to the incident. IIRC it's still used in consideration as a significant mitigating factor. 

[Silent Hunter]

Here's another one I feel a bit uneasy about.  Stupid and offensive, yes, but 8 months in jail?

4 months of that was for breaching of a suspended sentence for cannabis possession.

Ah much better, only 4 months for the "offensive behavior" then.

It's actually an 8 month sentence for the offensive behavior; the other 4 month charge is concurrent.

Ah, right. Thanks.