Re:Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as '...
by Vecr on Monday September 12, 2022 @07:18PM
(#32818623)
This is correct, I'm not sure why it's being down-voted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_threat
Re:Anti-royal protesters are being arrested in the U.K. as '...
by heavyset_go on Monday September 12, 2022 @07:28PM
(#32818727)
Eh, it's an ugly truth and my examples could have been less extreme.
Various circuit courts have different tests for what constitutes a true threat versus legal free speech, some of which can be found here[1].
For example, here's the 2nd Circuit's opinion:
> a true threat is “on its face and in the circumstances in which it is made is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to the person threatened, as to convey a gravity of purpose and imminent prospect of execution.”
[1] https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1025/true-threats
> Is illegal and you can be arrested for it.
This is untrue. Immediate, direct, actionable threats are illegal, saying "I/we/you need to go hunt down and murder X now" can be construed as an actionable threat.
Extolling the virtues of murder and opining about how nice it would be if someone finally hunted down and killed X is legal free speech.
You can talk about how X needs to die all you want, but if you start making immediate, direct, actionable threats towards X, that crosses territory from free speech to illegal threats.