Should online jokes be criminal?

posted by CharlesB in IN THE NEWS

BBC News wonders why a Canadian woman can have a Texas teen jailed because she doesn't like him.

A $500,000 bail?

Petition to Free Jailed League of Legends Player Reaches 100,000 Sigs
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125833-Petition-to-Free-Jailed...

"According to his lawyer, Carter has been assaulted multiple times by other inmates and is thus now being held in solitary confinement; he's also fallen into a depression and is now under suicide watch. He rejected a plea bargain offer of eight years in prison, and so on April 10 was indicted on charges of making terroristic threats "with the intent to cause impairment or interruption of communications, public transportation, public water, gas or public supply or other public service" and to "place the public or a substantial group of the public in fear of serious bodily injury."--Andy Chalk | 9 July 2013

Justin Carter case: Should online jokes be criminal?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23188875

When A Teen's 'Sarcastic' Facebook Message Goes Terribly Wrong
http://www.businessinsider.com/teen-justin-carter-faces-trial-and-jail-f...

Kid imprisoned for 5 months, assaulted, and currently held in solitary confinement on suicide watch, Now facing 8 more years in prison all just for a joke he made on facebook.
http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1hzrb4/kid_imprisoned_for_5_months...

"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.
Carter and his lawyer insist the statement was a joke - albeit one in poor taste. But it's hard to read sarcasm over the internet.
Soon a Texas law enforcement agency received an anonymous tip from Canada. Carter's home was searched and he was arrested. Now, he's been sitting in jail for almost five months, unable to pay the $500,000 (£334,470) bond required for his release."--By Kate Dailey, BBC News

"Justin Carter is being reported by his dad to have
"concussions, black eyes, moved four times...for his own protection.
This is worth contemplating and thinking more about: being behind bars
in America is a serious thing with serious consequences, and it's
horrible to be used as a quick general interest problem-solving tool.
Especially so for victimless crimes."--Brian Doherty

Father: Teen Jailed For Facebook Comment Beaten Up Behind Bars
http://m.npr.org/news/U.S./198129617

‘Concussions, Black Eyes…Put in Solitary Confinement, Nude, for Days’:
TX Teen Jailed for Facebook Comment Reportedly Suffering Behind Bars,
on Suicide Watch
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/03/concussions-black-eyes-put-in...

Teen jailed since February for making online comment about 'shooting
up a school full of kids' is on suicide watch because faces eight
YEARS in prison even though he says it was just a joke
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2356244/Justin-Carter-Father-say...

SOURCE: http://www.athenstalks.com/should-online-jokes-be-criminal