Youth arrested for Facebook “threats”
Okay I have a few issues here. First of all, the parents should have been monitoring. Were they aware that their child was this distressed? (PC Pandora computer monitoring software would have let them know)…
But more importantly – the legality. I think this crossed the line of infringing free speech. He did not make a threat to a specific person. Who has not said in their high school life “this school need to be blown up…” I certainly did. I hated high school and 95% of the people in it… I’ll save those details for the therapist… but the fact remains he did not threaten one single person, rather made a general statement.
Okay, then the second post he mad – well, it was certainly taken out of context by the writer and by the school… how do we know he wasn’t saying “I nearly killed a random person today on accident when I ran into the bathroom and the person coming out flew back and hit his head on the sink”??? Why must we be lead to assume he meant “I nearly killed a random person today because I was so angry and he annoyed me”?
What do you think? Over the line, or appropriately cautious?
June 8, 2009
Youth arrested for Facebook threats
By SUN STAFFThe Lisle Police Department arrested a 15-year-old Lisle High School student June 4 for posting inappropriate and threatening statements on his Facebook page.
Police were notified about a statement which was posted on the juvenile’s Facebook page June 1 which read “Lisle Senior High School needs to be the target of domestic terrorism.”
Another statement posted on his Facebook page read “almost killed the most random person today.”
The juvenile was charged with attempted preventing or interfering with a child attending school, a Class B misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor. He was transported to the DuPage County Youth Home and later released wearing a home detention ankle bracelet to monitor his movements, said Sgt. Randall Johnson, public information officer for the Lisle Police Department.
Johnson said the department takes all threats seriously.
“Whether he meant them or not, we won’t be able to prove, but he did put them on his page,” Johnson said. “You can’t take it with a grain of salt. You have to take it seriously.”
