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14-Year-Old Faces Felony Hate Crime Charges for Posting 'Slave for Sale' Craigslist Ad
Reason ^ | November 21, 2019 | Robby Soave

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: hatecrime; prank
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To: sauropod

I never said that a hate crime was involved, but a crime very well may have occurred and a civil suit is on the way.


61 posted on 11/22/2019 6:06:52 AM PST by Meatspace
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To: chris37

“ What injuries were suffered?”

That’s a question for the victim.


62 posted on 11/22/2019 6:07:57 AM PST by Meatspace
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To: Meatspace

Our actions have consequences not all of them legal. We need to think twice before we do something stupid.


63 posted on 11/22/2019 6:09:33 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Meatspace
The mother of the young man that was the target of the "slave for sale" ad was interviewed by all the local TV stations in the Chicago market yesterday. She said she forgives the kid who posted the ad, and simply wants him to understand what he did was wrong and he shouldn't be acting out like he did.

She came off as very sympathetic and truthful IMO. I saw two of those interviews while at my GF's house last night (don't have TV at home.)

Normally I have a pretty good BS detector, in this case I wasn't getting the impression she was lawsuit happy. Time will tell.

I will say this: as I work in Naperville and many of the people I work with also live in/around Naperville, there is very little if any compassion for the kid who placed the Craigs List ad. "Stupid" is the word most commonly used to describe him. Usually preceded by the F-word.

64 posted on 11/22/2019 6:10:49 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Meatspace

So what is the appropriate punishment for a very bad, tasteless joke like this for a 14 year old?

Felony? Drawing and quartering? Head on a pike?


65 posted on 11/22/2019 6:12:12 AM PST by sauropod (I am His and He is mine)
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To: chris37
What injuries were suffered?

You mean aside from the young black man being verbally and mildly assaulted at school and the family home being vandalized?

66 posted on 11/22/2019 6:13:04 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Meatspace
I never said that a hate crime was involved...

The original story did. The kid has been charged with committing a hate crime.

67 posted on 11/22/2019 6:14:29 AM PST by sauropod (I am His and He is mine)
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To: VietVet876

[[[Everybody knows that the best way to sell slaves is at public auction.]]]

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Craigslist should have just pulled the ad. The kid should have been called an assh@le. Issue resolved.


68 posted on 11/22/2019 6:14:30 AM PST by VastRWCon (Fake News)
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To: usconservative

” I can understand the police getting involved, I do not understand where the school has the ability to suspend the perp in this case since the actions he took were OUTSIDE of school property and not on school time.

That part I don’t understand.”

Taken in the context of almost all schools nowadays require students to sign code of conduct pledges and behavioral pledges (again, most of which include items like cyber bullying of another student and other non-school property/hours related offenses), then it stands to reason these are the grounds on which the school has taken disciplinary action regarding this incident.

Agree or disagree, but that’s what I would think is going on in this instance.


69 posted on 11/22/2019 6:17:57 AM PST by jurroppi1 (The Left doesn't have ideas, it has cliches. H/T Flick Lives)
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To: sauropod
I think you and I both know it's not just the kid who's getting punished in all this. His family is bearing a huge brunt in all of this too.

Charging him with a felony hate crime is (IMO) designed to drive the family into bankruptcy vis a vis having to defend him in court and likely drive them out of Naperville.

I live in the area. I know what I'm talking about and you all here on FR aren't getting the whole story through this Reason Mag article.

The young man that was targeted in the CL ad has been harassed and bullied at school, mildly physically assaulted at school by several of the perp's friends and the family home was vandalized. These are things that aren't being reported in the national media or this article.

None of this makes charging the perp with a felony hate crime right (IMO) it does mean anyone who acts out because of what this stupid perp did should also be held accountable.

Felony hate crime laws = thought crimes. I'm against legally punishing people for what they think.

I am for punishing people for what they actually do as I think we all are.

70 posted on 11/22/2019 6:17:59 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: jurroppi1
Thanks. I did not know that schools demand kids sign code of conduct pledges.

Frankly, that's stupid and lawsuits have proven they don't hold up in court. Schools in no way should ever have the ability to punish kids for what they do in their own time.

Schools exist for one purpose: education. Anything else is out of their purview.

71 posted on 11/22/2019 6:19:57 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: null and void

He can still become Governor of Virginia, but only if he’s a Democrat.


72 posted on 11/22/2019 6:20:01 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: usconservative

We agree. What happened to his family is not right.

I’m just concerned that, if another event like this happens (just the posting on Craigslist, not the other stuff), that charging w/ hate crime is using a sledgehammer to kill a fly.


73 posted on 11/22/2019 6:20:37 AM PST by sauropod (I am His and He is mine)
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To: karpov

It is a fundamental right to be an ass and even this level of friend-on-former-friend dynamic rises to the level of crime nowhere. When it does, we have a BIG problem.


74 posted on 11/22/2019 6:20:55 AM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: VastRWCon
Craigslist should have just pulled the ad. The kid should have been called an assh@le. Issue resolved.

Yep. That sounds about right. Nailed it.

75 posted on 11/22/2019 6:21:12 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: sauropod
Bro, I don't agree with "hate crimes" at all. In any case.

I think what another poster above said was right: CL should've pulled the ad and the kid who posted it should've been called an asshole. Case closed.

76 posted on 11/22/2019 6:22:39 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: beancounter13
“If so, then everyone who calls a white guy ‘privileged’, ‘racist’, ‘homophobic’, etc. is also a racist.”


The terms you mentioned are pejoratives and are intended to be insults when directed at the target[s]. And no, they are not considered to be racists. Because those individuals or individual these terms are directed toward are not considered human in the view of those hurling these words. These words are designed to isolate, define,identify, and mark for later destruction their targets by those who employ them.

The National Socialists had their term[s]. The Old Communists had their term[s]. And the New Communists have their term[s]. The common thread among them is they all have led to the destruction or near destruction of their targets.

Heed the lessons of the past and do not become a part of them.

77 posted on 11/22/2019 6:25:00 AM PST by sport
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To: sport

Post of the day.


78 posted on 11/22/2019 6:26:51 AM PST by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
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To: Meatspace
You could be, but I don't think it would stick if you were a 14 hear old boy pranking a schoolmate of the same age... because the prosecution would not be able to prove your motive was to literally offer your classmate for services if you insisted your motive was to prank. They would have to prove that your motive was not to prank but to abduct the girl and hand her over to a stranger and that you had the ability to follow through. So instead of a felony abduction or underage prostitution they would have to settle for much less, such as harassment. Unless the jury and judge are virtue-signaling idiots with no common sense.

Now instead of straw men, go to this actual case. According to a local there are allegations that there has been a campaign of bullying of this black individual, and allegations that there has been vandalism, albeit minor, that are unmentioned in the article, and these allegations do matter. If the threats and vandalism can be traced back to this teen [as opposed to someone else], and if the victim and perp had a falling out and were not friends when this occurred, then it is not a prank but was a form of libel and harassment as well as threats and vandalism, of course. But being that the libel such as it was could not really do damage to the victim's reputation or income there's not much there to go after except for vandalism, IF the teen did it, and terroristic threats, if that is what they were. And if the falling out was not over racial hatred but over a love interest, or some other typical teenage crisis, such as hurt egos, then it's not a 'hate' crime in the spirit of the law even if his choice method of harassment used a stereotype- it's just harassment. Obviously it was not an actual effort to engage in slave trading and shouldn't be prosecuted as if it was. This was minor, not worthy of clogging up the courts [a way to harass the general public]...unless it can be proven the same perp was also a vandal or threat maker, or had assaulted the victim physically.

79 posted on 11/22/2019 6:33:10 AM PST by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: sport

+1


80 posted on 11/22/2019 6:38:10 AM PST by alternatives? (Why have an army if there are no borders?)
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