Legally Speaking for Parents: Electronic Threats
A serious matter of Text and Violence
By Marc Dwyer
I
was saddened recently to see yet another arrest of
a high school student for making a threat on social
media. You may not have known this, but the Florida
Legislature has made it a crime to cyber-bully, or to
make threats to harm a person or a school through
electronic communication. A lot of social media posts,
including Instagram and snapchat can form the basis
of a criminal charge. Florida Statute §836.10 provides
that any person who writes or composes and also sends
or posts any electronic communication containing a
threat to kill or to do bodily injury to another person
commits a 2nd degree felony, which carries a maximum
sentence of 15 years in State prison.
The verbatim language of the statute is as follows:
(1) Any person who writes or composes and also
sends or procures the sending of any letter, inscribed
communication, or electronic communication, whether
such letter or communication be signed or anonymous,
to any person, containing a threat to kill or to do
bodily injury to the person to whom such letter or
communication is sent, or a threat to kill or do bodily
injury to any member of the family of the person to
whom such letter or communication is sent, or any
person who makes, posts, or transmits a threat in a
writing or other record, including an electronic record,
to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism, in
any manner that would allow another person to view
the threat, commits a felony of the second degree,
punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s.
775.084.
Electronic platforms are known as Social Media--- not
Anti-Social media. These platforms should be used
to foster relationships, share great experiences with
friends, keep people informed, and keep up with
interesting people; not to threaten people from a
distance. Don’t let the next child arrested for making
written threats be your child. Talk to your child(ren)
about their social media use. I’ve heard many parents
say to their child “I’m not here to by your friend, I’m
here to be your parent.” When it comes to social
media you may want to literally be their ‘friend’ or
“follower”. What better way to be aware of their
‘avatar’ or ‘digital presence’ that they are known by to
the rest of the world.
Marc Dwyer is a Partner at the Law Firm of Chiumento
Dwyer Hertel Grant and specializes in Marital and Family
Law.
This month’s Anecdote: An ounce of Prevention is
worth a pound of cure.
With the increase in school shootings across the
country, law enforcement has to take every one of
these types of threats seriously. They cannot afford
to judge which of these may be a joke or which is
a deliberate threat, so they must take them all as
threats to our safety.
Like any other media which reaches the public there
is a responsibility to use it wisely. (Can you imagine
someone using a newspaper or a TV show to
threaten another person?) In order to combat the
unintended consequences of social media misuse
you should make your child(ren) aware and debunk
the myth that what they send is only between them
and the other person. The truth of the matter is
that with the enactment of this law, anything that
they put out into cyberspace for someone else to
see can be documented, reproduced, and used as
evidence against them in a court of law.
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