Cannibal Coop Case Study

but no one knows who will actually go through will those threats. The Cannibal cop case from New York is another example, Gilberto Valle posted online to many fetish chat forums about attacking , torturing, cooking, and eating specific women. In his case, Valle convinced the judge that he was just living out a dark fantasy and using the forum to express his thoughts to others who thought in the same way he did. His case was soon thrown out, as the judge felt he was protected under free-speech since he had not committed any crime. “ When people post about violence or threatening someone online. People from all over the world hype them up to commit the act.” (willams) Mr. Elonis said he never intended to act on his threats. His lawyer Mr. Elwood also commented on the meaning of his words “ If the question had been what did he intend, did he intend to place her in fear it would've been an …show more content…
“ Federal criminal liability does not turn solely on the results of an act without considering the defendants mental state,” Wrote Chief Justice John Roberts. “ What Elonis knew is what mattered and it's not enough to say a reasonable person would find the threats to be genuine.” Its worth being mentioned that the court was making a decision on the case at a federal level and they did not address the extent to which Freedom of speech in the First Amendment was deal with at the criminal level ( these threats are referred to as “true threats”) Thus, this decision has no effect on online cases at the state level. Of course, this doesn't mean that states won't be influenced by the Elonis vs. United States case. But Advocates for freedom of speech liberties want the criminal system to hold threat charges to a higher standard. “ Anyone can make a threat online but we want to make sure that the court is not blaming the poster for being artistic.” said one representative “ People from all of the world can