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State Law

: Showmeblawgs

By John Ashcroft Institute for Constitutional Studies

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Volokh Conspiracy blogs about recent MySpace harassment case: Missouri Prosecution for Emotionally Distressing a Minor: "As I've noted before, this is an extremely vague and potentially broad statute (Section 565.090.1 RS MO._ It's a crime (perhaps a felony) to purposefully "emotionally distress" someone "without good cause," with the jury deciding what's good cause -- imagine how much speech this can cover. Likewise, under subsection 4 (which doesn't seem to be in play in this particular prosecution, though it's not clear from the indictment) it's a crime to even recklessly cause emotional distress to a minor, under subsection 3 to do so knowingly cause emotional distress to anyone by an anonymous electronic communication, whether or not one has "good cause." And consider how broad "emotional distress" can be. A great deal of speech, including anonymous speech, emotionally distresses people. That doesn't strip it of constitutional protection, and neither should constitutional protection turn to jury conclusions of which causes are good and which are bad."

Full post as published by Showmeblawgs on August 22, 2009 (boomark / email).