Case Study Anthony Elonis

Jose Rodriguez is the Director of Parent and Community Engagement at UnidosUS, and oversees UnidosUS’s Padres Comprometidos parent engagement program that is implemented across twenty-four states. The goal of Padres Comprometidos is to ensure that the Latino families can navigate the US public school system to support their children's academic success. With over thirty years of experience as a K -12 teacher, coordinator, and consultant, Jose has assisted school districts in the areas of English language acquisition and parent engagement. A fifth generation American, Jose grew up in a rural community in South Texas, where the home language and culture were nurtured and maintained. Upon entering school Jose was immersed in an English only environment

CLINTON TWP. — In a densely wooded and overgrown area, with temperatures in the upper 80s, a three-man crew battled pesky flies, buzzing mosquitoes, crawling spiders, marching ants, strong odors and trash mounds as they cleaned a property in the 8200 block of Newkirk Road Thursday.

The Investigation has been completed under Sections 210.110-210.165, RSMo. And the Division has determined there is INSUFFICENT EVIDENCE to conclude Aeriana Williams was the victim of physical abuse perpetrated by Robert Murrill.

Tyler Gamache is an 7 year, 4 month old male enrolled in the first grade at Loudonville Christian School. Tyler Gamache was referred for a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation to address concerns regarding his performance in the classroom. Tyler is currently receiving speech and language services, as well as remedial reading support, but continues to have academic difficulty in first grade. To assess Tyler’s cognitive abilities, academic skills, and social-emotional functioning, norm referenced testing was conducted.

This worker met Ms. January Hollins in the children hospital. Privacy practices and Tennessen notices were reviewed and signed. The interview was recorded.

Social media can connect millions of people together, in any instant location. However, many of these platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, have blasphemous users who fire up heated debates, following up with explicit language. Such opinions often times involve incitement and defamation targeted against the opposing party. However, because the First Amendment protects the freedom of speech, the U.S. Government has not strictly reprimanded the misuse of the amendment. Some citizens view hate speech as a form of speech that attacks and offends an individual or group based on their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or ethnic origin while others see it as a part of the First Amendment, and having it appealed, will precede with negative criticisms. There are others who are not concerned of the topic at hand completely which identifies how impactful this problem is. It has been apparent more so on social media, where people demonstrate their right to freedom of speech because they are more likely to voice their opinions individually when others are not present. The debate still continues to decide if the First Amendment should be revised due to hate speech on social media since it has promoted indirect violence, incivility amongst the online communities and has lowered ethical codes in the American society.

Every day, millions of people use social media to either converse with their peers or to post pictures. There has been much discussion on whether or not individuals should be prosecuted for rude statements made on social media. Individuals should not be prosecuted for derogative statements made on social media. Although some may say that prosecuting cyberbullies for statements made on social media is beneficial, it would have many negative consequences. Prosecuting individuals for statements made on the internet would discourage personal responsibility, be a violation of the first amendment, and squander tax payers' money.

A case of social media harassment has gone all the way to the supreme court. In 2014 a case of social media harassment Elonis v.United States appeared in front of the supreme court. Defendant Anthony Elonis had threatened not only his wife and children but also two female co-workers. The argument is whether Elonis harassing Facebook post are claimed to be part of his disturbed sense of humor or taken as true threats. If found guilty to these charges Elonis could be charged with five years in prison and $250,000 fine. Social media is a place to share thought and opinions with friends, not a place to harass and threaten innocent

Elonic had gone on to Facebook and posted rap lyrics with violent language and imagery concerning his wife, co-workers, an elementary class, and a female FBI officer, interspersed with disclaimers that the lyrics were “fictitious” and that he was only exercising his First Amendment rights. It got to a point where his wife had to place a protection order against Elonic. Then after his boss had viewed what he was posting on Facebook he quickly fired Elonic from the amusement park. After Elonis was fired his former employer contacted the FBI about his online activity. From there the FBI had kept a close eye on Elonis’s Facebook activity. From there he was charged under 18 U.S.C. 875(c), which makes it a crime to transmit in interstate commerce

In today’s society, we as a nation showcase our lives through social media. The case, Elonis vs. The United States, the petitioner, Anthony Douglas Elonis, is no different. He was an inspiring rap artist and was using Facebook as a platform to share his lyrics. After his divorce, things got out of hand. He started to post threatful lyrics about his wife, co-workers, and a kindergarten school. One of his friends saw these post and decided to report it. The FBI ended up getting involved and before long Elonis found out and started to post about the FBI agent. The FBI then had enough of it, so they arrested him. At the lower court the jury of his peers felt that the post constituted a reasonable threat and sentenced him to 44 months in prison. He, of course, appealed it, sending it to the Supreme Court, saying that his intent was not threatful. The Supreme

Upon arrived David Sr had already arrived to drop off the children. Prior to him leaving the children gave him a hug and then went into the kitchen to start on their homework. Amber set a time for David Jr complete his reading assignment and gave Bre’Asya her books to start her assignments. David Jr completed is reading assignment in 34 minutes and was given praise for doing a good job. Bre’Asya continued her work for several minutes and David Jr was given another book to read.

Increasingly, the internet is notably used as a weapon of discontent where active users need to be much more mindful of what they post online as they decide to air out their dirty laundry on Twitter, Facebook or any social platform of their choice. In the last year alone, the United Kingdom has seen a 23% increase in defamation cases due to the rise of social media.

Ray Marco Aguirre is an 11 year old male diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and mild intellectual disorder. Ray Marco was referred to BRIA due to her significant maladaptive behaviors that affected the overall quality of life for the Aguirre family. Behavior respite services are deemed appropriate for this family since a more advanced staff is needed to support Ray Marco at home. Mrs. Aguirre states that she is using BRIA services effectively and she is now able to rely on these services to attend to her life activities such as attending family functions and spending time with her other children. Family outing have less stress full with the assistance of BRIA staff and has allowed for sibling to not be the targets of unpredictable tantrums

It should concern all of us that social media allows users to insult, bully and threaten others without the fear of significant, if any, punishment or legal ramifications. While some would argue that social media is merely an outlet that should allow freedom of speech, others counter the argument with how far is too far within this constitutional freedom. Where do we draw the line? After all, the United States Constitution is clear on the matter: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (http://www.uscourts.gov)

This incident happened in 1994 and 1995 where a student at the University of Michigan by the name of Jake Baker was writing short fictional stories in an online community on a bulletin board, and his stories were about sadistic and sexual behavior that was very troubling. Even though these stories were fictional they should have never been put online for everyone to see because they could have been taken really serious. In one of his fictional short stories he mapped out in lengthy detail about how him and his friend tortured, sexually abused, and killed a woman who had the same name as one of Jake Baker’s classmates. Eventually these stories troubled one young man on the online community and Baker and the young man began to exchange emails about their fantasies. Eventually Baker was indicted. Luckily there is a law that states that anyone giving threats to kidnap, threaten to injure or kill another person shall be either fined or imprisoned. We need these types of laws to go in effect to insure the safety of other human beings, to make sure that the threats that individuals are making do not