Criminal thoughts are not penalized by criminal law because it is hard to determine whether or not the person is actually angry, aggravated, annoyed or is actually ready to commit a crime. The harm happens when thoughts are translated into action (Carper, McKinsey, 2008, p. 228). Someone might claim they were hurt or harmed by those words, but there is no proof to determine that. However, proof can be displayed if the individual actually commits the crime. The Government would just gain more power to invade our individual privacy, if they charged people over criminal thoughts. Most impostantly, judges have to determine whether or not those acts our voluntary or involuntary, which is not easy to decide at times. According to our book Essential Criminal Law, the social harm created by an act can be measured and a proportionate punishment imposed (Lippman, 2014, p. 46). If they arrested people for their criminal thoughts than almost 70 percent of the people on social media would be in jail. I am sure almost everyone thought about something they
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The lyrics were vile and disturbing, but he never actually acted out in that way. There is a possibility that he could have though. The problem with this story is he used rap lyrics to express his hatred towards another person. If what he did was a crime, than almost half of the rappers today should be thrown in jail. This is where our judges have to determine whether or not it is fighting words or just criminal thoughts. According to the judge, those lyrics were a direct theat. In a way, certain situations could be different in other states depending on the judge and its evidence. As stated in the book Understanding the Law, for fighting words to be a crime, they must be uttered, as here, in a provocative manner, so there is a clear and present danger that an immediate breach of the peace will erupt (Carper, McKinsey, 2008, p.
The lyrics were vile and disturbing, but he never actually acted out in that way. There is a possibility that he could have though. The problem with this story is he used rap lyrics to express his hatred towards another person. If what he did was a crime, than almost half of the rappers today should be thrown in jail. This is where our judges have to determine whether or not it is fighting words or just criminal thoughts. According to the judge, those lyrics were a direct theat. In a way, certain situations could be different in other states depending on the judge and its evidence. As stated in the book Understanding the Law, for fighting words to be a crime, they must be uttered, as here, in a provocative manner, so there is a clear and present danger that an immediate breach of the peace will erupt (Carper, McKinsey, 2008, p.