Jagex Busts Teen for School Shooting Comment

[Mycroft Holmes]

Boring troll meets over reactive justice system. Yeah this is news worthy.

If I was held accountable for everything I said on the internet, I would be on death row by now if not already executed.

Although for awhile I did get calls asking me stuff like "Do you own a firearm, Mr Holmes? We need to stop Obama before he takes away our guns," and then when I gave unsatisfactory answers like 'I don't own a gun but I would love to sign a petition against gun control legislation for you' they would immediately hang up. Which I assume is the NSA/FBI's way of telling me both that they are interested to see if I am actually a domestic terrorist, and that no one in their organizations has any idea what subtlety means.

 

[Wargamer]

Hm, think I'll just edit mine a little.

I'm sorry to all the people that's cheering this, but I really don't like the idea of people being arrested solely on what they say, especially in a online setting where people are used to that anonymous feeling which tends to make people say what they would normally never say/act IRL. And definitely when it's a dumb teen who are known for saying stupid meaningless crap just to try to make themselves look good/superior.

There had to be a better way to deal with this, and I would be extremely surprised if the charges stick, much less gets in front of a jury.

It's more than what he said though; he threatened to blow up a school, he made comments that suggests he is pro-genocide / pro-holocaust, he created nazi symbols in game and, here's the kicker, he lives in a house full of firearms!

Guys who make jokes about wanting to shoot up their school need help. People who make jokes about shooting up their school with a shotgun under the best need to be thrown out of an airplane, sans parachute.

Edit: Misread the OP slightly, but the point remains...

 

[Kopikatsu]

Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa.
Wait, he was arrested for not actually doing anything?
I've now read this article slowly about 4 times and if someone could correct me that would be wonderful but it doesnt seem to me he actually did anything, yet was arrested.

I mean, not the most savory character, yeah okay.
But saying you are going to do something, and actually doing it are still two different things nowadays aren't they?

Someone already responded to the main point here, so I'll go all supplemental on 'ere. Thought crime is something that you can be arrested for. Conspiracy to commit a crime is one, and the other are the...fuck, I've forgotten the name of the law. In any case, if you try to leave the country for the purpose of having sex with a minor in another country (Even if it would be legal there. For example, age of consent in Spain is 13.), they can arrest you at the airport and charge you without you ever having actually left the country (not that you'd necessarily have been committing a crime either, since as mentioned, age of consent is lower in some places)

A couple of things I'd like to say about this.

It was good that the people on the server reported him. You never know when you might be dealing with a lunatic on the internet. Of course the chances of someone being an actual lunatic are slim, but it's not something that you should just ignore.
On the other hand, $50,000 bail seems just ridiculous. If you can't prove that he wasn't joking then you have to let him go. "Innocent until proven guilty" is there to protect everyone from the tyrannical judiciary system. If you keep locking people up because they were joking, pretty soon you'll have a nation of people too scared to joke. It's insane.

...No? They can/have proved that he did say it through the transcripts of the ingame logs. It's up to the defendant to prove that it was a joke; or otherwise cast doubt on the prosecutions claim. 'Innocent until proven guilty' doesn't mean 'Take the defendant's word as truth at all times until the prosecution proves otherwise'.

 

[madster11]

That's odd, i always thought we'd first see thought crime prosecution in the UK.
Huh.

So if i say 'im going to blow up the white house', that line right there means a navy seal team can bust through my door and shoot me in the head? It's a credible threat, because my dad has petrol cans in the garage.

What the fuck, America? Apparently we have more rights here in Australia, a nanny state that even makes it a crime for young people to drive powerful cars.
I would not get my bail set at $50k if i drove my goddamn car into a school bus.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

As much as he sounds like an enormous bellend, I'd bet he's just talking out of his arse. I just can't understand how someone can be that fucking dumb, that they'd either A) Tell people they were seriously going to shoot up a school or B) Joke about that shit (where people might actually believe you. Tasteless jokes are still fantastic.) since Sandy Hook.

It reminds me a bit about that guy in England for making a joke on Facebook or Twitter about blowing up an airport, and I think he was fined, might have had a short jail sentence. The difference is that he was clearly joking, whereas this tit wasn't.

 

[Seydaman]

Welp, don't joke about murder. I wonder how this case will turn out.

 

[RJ 17]

Whether he actually intended to do or is just incredibly stupid to be posting such stuff, he deserves to go to jail. If it's the latter, I'd argue that's a dangerous level of stupidity.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa.
Wait, he was arrested for not actually doing anything?
I've now read this article slowly about 4 times and if someone could correct me that would be wonderful but it doesnt seem to me he actually did anything, yet was arrested.

I mean, not the most savory character, yeah okay.
But saying you are going to do something, and actually doing it are still two different things nowadays aren't they?

According to the article, he "was arrested and charged with 'threatening to commit a crime and threatening a bombing or hijacking.'"

I guess the threat is a crime wherever he lives.

 

[GoddyofAus]

I'm sorry, but isn't this thought crime?

 

[The Funslinger]

Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa.
Wait, he was arrested for not actually doing anything?
I've now read this article slowly about 4 times and if someone could correct me that would be wonderful but it doesnt seem to me he actually did anything, yet was arrested.

I mean, not the most savory character, yeah okay.
But saying you are going to do something, and actually doing it are still two different things nowadays aren't they?

"Conspiracy to commit a crime" has been an arresting offense for quite a while.

More importantly, 50 grand bail? And it was paid?

Shit, his parents must be rolling in it.

 

[Thanatos5150]

Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa.
Wait, he was arrested for not actually doing anything?
I've now read this article slowly about 4 times and if someone could correct me that would be wonderful but it doesnt seem to me he actually did anything, yet was arrested.

I mean, not the most savory character, yeah okay.
But saying you are going to do something, and actually doing it are still two different things nowadays aren't they?

In some cases, the threat to commit a crime is, in fact, a crime.
Shooting up a school is one of those cases.

 

[The Tibballs]

I'm not to sure how to feel about this, because who hasn't said "I would love to burn this school down" or "I'll fucking kill you"??
saying you're going to do something or even claiming you've done something is not/should not be a crime... Up to a point that is, if he had actual plans and/or had done other preparations to commit the crime then fine, lock him up, but if it was just him blowing off steam or even wishing/thinking about doing it then they should maybe give him a psychological test and send him on his way.

And to those advocating locking him up for thinking something, I didn't know thinking something was a crime.

 

[Edl01]

Good. Can't understand all the people saying "I believe in free speech, and he shouldn't be punished for saying those things!".
You do realise that the alternate scenario that you are suggesting is "Authorities have extremely good reason to think that this guy is going to shoot up his school, but decide not to stop him because free speech."
That's fucking lunacy.

I agree completely with this, I would rather have one guy arrested for threatening to go on a massacre, than ignore his threats because of his "free speech" and have him massacre 10 people.

Free Speech only goes so far, and threatening to go on a school shooting crosses the boundaries. We need less people like this guy opn the internet.