Posted on 11/22/2019 4:50:57 AM PST by karpov
Authorities arrested a 14-year-old white male student at Naperville High School in Naperville, Illinois, and charged him with committing a hate crime.
What the teen did was genuinely bad: He took a picture of a black classmate and posted a "slave for sale" ad on Craigslist. The school suspended him, and it was right to do so.
But now the police are involved, and the teen faces two felony hate crime charges as well as a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.
...
For the authorities to charge someone with a hate crime, there must be an underling crime. Simply holding or expressing hateful views is not illegal—indeed, it is protected by the First Amendment. Prosecutors can consider hate crime charges only when hate is the motivating factor in the commission of a crime, such as assault or vandalism.
Since disorderly conduct is the only other item here, the hate crime charges presumably stem from that. Disorderly conduct is often a broad category of offense, and such is certainly the case under Illinois law: "A person commits disorderly conduct when he or she knowingly does any act in such unreasonable matter as to alarm or disturb another and to provoke a breach of the peace." The disorderly conduct charge is a misdemeanor, but the hate crime charges are felonies, making this an extremely serious criminal matter for a 14-year-old kid.
I don't know what was going through his head when he posted the Craigslist ad—news article suggest the two boys were former friends—and I do not object at all to the school itself taking punitive action. But should the cops really be arresting 14-year-olds, and subjecting them to life-derailing felony charges, for incidents of nonviolent bullying?
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
A poll of Milennials showed that they do NOT agree with this and want it "changed". One of the many dangers we face on the cusp of being THEIR subjects.
There goes a future Epstein.
Maybe he can pull a Schiff and claim it was just a parody, ha ha...
No it’s insane but if convicted and given a lengthy sentence, is anyone going to try to do anything about it?
That whole township should.
But they won’t.
But five eggplants beat the living sh.t out of an old white guy, hey that was just simple assault and probation.
Because blacks were the only people in the history of the world held as slaves
These BS laws need to go.
There is zero reason for this child to be facing two felonies.
Preposterous.
Why can’t they charge the kid with cyberstalking?
The boy’s family is going to be facing a hefty civil suit filed by the family of the child whose picture was posted.
That civil suit will sting more than the criminal case.
They made sure to tell us it is a “white male.”
“For the authorities to charge someone with a hate crime, there must be an underling crime”. (”underlying.”)
That makes sense, but that’s not how it works any more. Today, there doesn’t have to be a crime. Any perceived element of bias is now called a hate crime. They knew what they were doing. This was their original intention: to criminalize anything a White says or does, or doesn’t say or doesn’t do.
Sliding ever faster down the ‘slippery slope’ of socialism and fascism.
A slap upside the head from his father? Maybe. A felony charge? Gimme a break!
“ Today, there doesn’t have to be a crime. Any perceived element of bias is now called a hate crime. They knew what they were doing. This was their original intention: to criminalize anything a White says or does, or doesn’t say or doesn’t do.”
Does the child who had his picture posted of Craigslist have the right to his image and likeness?
Does that child have the right to not be marketed as a slave, even if it was a hoax?
Everybody knows that the best way to sell slaves is at public auction.
What the kid did was socially wrong, but probably protected speech under the 1st amendment, but in no case should it be a felony.
Agree 1000%. If I was ever on a jury trying a "hate crime" case I would,if the evidence justifies,vote "guilty" on whatever assault might have occurred.And that includes if the victim was a "minority" and the accused was white.
But on any charge that includes "hate" (or a similar word) in it I'd vote "not guilty"...regardless of what the evidence might indicate.
the town should get together and lynch this mfer...
wait, white boys can’t be lynched... ugh... i guess he will get off because of his privilege...
/sarc
what he did was stupid, but not felony worthy... this is crazy justice
What the kid did was in poor taste, but I would not classify it as ‘wrong’. In my opinion, it does not warrant school suspension much less arrest.
Does that make me a racist?
If so, then everyone who calls a white guy ‘privileged’, ‘racist’, ‘homophobic’, etc. is also a racist.
I think the biggest issue with liberals today, it that they have become so thin skinned that they get insulted at everything. It’s time for people to once again ‘grow-up’ and become adults.
Does free speech include posting an image of some one without their permission on the internet and offering them for sale.
Now, suppose someone took a picture of a young girl and without her permission, posted that picture in an ad for sexual services or prostitution?
Is that free speech?
Poor taste, yes, but it doesn’t require sentencing to a re-education camp. Nobody has a sense of humor these days, good, bad, or otherwise.
If I was this kids Father, the police force would have been forced to kill me by now.
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