The Supreme Court case, Packingham v. North Carolina (2016) debates whether convicted and registered sex offenders should be limited in their social media usage on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which are most predominantly populated by minors. The constitutionality of North Carolina’s criminal law is being debated as it considers it a felony for any person registered as a sex offender in the state of North Carolina to have an account on social media sites such as Facebook, or any social media platforms that allow minors to have an account. The current North Carolina law is unconstitutional as it limits a clear example of free speech, and does so in a very broad and unjustified way, In this case, Lester Packingham was …show more content…
Free speech can often be limited in times of war, or if it endangers others. For example, the ba precedent was set in the case Morse v. Fredrick, in which the Supreme Court decided that schools were justified to limit student’s speech, as it protected other students from the advertisement and promotion of illegal drug use ("Morse v. Frederick", 2017). Though some may argue that the current North Carolina law is protecting all minors from individuals on the sex offender registry, however the current law banning all social media usage is much too broad. While saying that Packingham is not allowed to have any contact with minors on social media may be seen as justified in order to ensure the safety of minors that frequent social media sites, Packingham was not doing such. Packingham simply expressed his thankfulness for his belief in god on his personal social media page, which was not viewable to any minors. The fact that this law limits all social media usage by convicted sex offenders limits the First Amendment of free speech in an unjustly broad manner. Generally, free speech cannot be limited unless it is directly endangering others. As Packingham did not attempt to contact minors, or specifically the one involved in his guilt, this law forced his imprisonment for extending his right to free speech. This law should be deemed unconstitutional because the law is too …show more content…
While the current North Carolina law was created in order to protect minors from predation from previous offenders on the internet, this law broadly limits the free speech of registered sex offenders. A law limiting all interaction on social media sites is unconstitutional, because it limits the First Amendment freedom of speech rights well beyond simply protecting minors that visit social media websites. The North Carolina law prohibiting past sex offenders from having accounts on or using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube can be considered unconstitutional as it is a form of speech and expression protected under the first amendment, and the current provisions constrict speech in an umbrella manner, and are much too broad to be deemed justified restriction of
Finally, there is nothing easier or faster than making connections with someone who you knew long time ago through social media. Many social media sites are being created regularly that allow people to connect and interact over the Internet. However, the advancement of today’s social media has also increased the activities of pedophiles due to the communication that social media allows. Online predators have gained access to youngsters, ever since people started using social media extensively. According to Fox News, “The world’s largest pro-pedophilia advocacy group uses Facebook to connect with its members throughout the world; to find and exchange photos of children; to hone its members' predatory behaviour; and to identify,
Every day millions of people log onto social media platforms. There has been much discussion on whether or not individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media platforms. Individuals should be prosecuted for statements made on social media. Although cyberbullying is just a small crime, people should still be punished for harsh or hateful remarks on social media. Having freedom of speech is a privilege not a right, we should focus on the bigger stories on cyberbullying, and individuals affected by cyberbullying are affected in all aspects of their life.
Even with the dangerous developments in social media over the past several years, many parents have chosen to allow their children to use these sites despite age restrictions. There are three reasons to argue for age restrictions on social media sites: lack of supervision by parents, targeting of children by pedophiles, and the prevalence of children falsifying their age. The ability of pedophiles to conceivably target children with social media proves that this is an issue that parents need to examine so that they may better protect their children. The threat from pedophiles causes an enormous problem for millions of children on social media sites. Unfortunately, Western Daily Press states that “Pedophiles can get away with grooming young teenagers on social media sites.” My essay will argue that age restrictions need to be in place, and additional regulations should ensure that law enforcement agencies have the tools required to supervise underage children 's use of social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Quoting from Business Wire, “three out of four parents feel that social network sites are not protecting children.” According to Irish Independent, “four out of ten children falsify their age” when using social media. I will also argue that additional research on this topic can be used to raise the awareness of parents, and can also help to alert the children themselves to the danger. My essay will also examine questions, such as: How can social media sites protect
Online predators and Stalkers can easily gain access to social media users’ personal information by either requesting to be a user’s friend or simply finding a way around the user's privacy settings. According to June Ahn, chat rooms are public and is an unmonitored space where online predators are more likely to be. “Adolescents are less likely to be targeted for unwanted sexual solicitation in social media than chat rooms.”(Ahn, June) I have found that, 412 adolescents were more likely to talk with strangers. This is hazardous for young children and adolescents because their lack of life experience leads them to blindly accept all friend request. The effort to seem popular by having many friends online can damage credibility and truth worthiness.
In the Mapp vs Ohio state court case, the issue disputed was when the appellant Dollree Mapp was convicted of possessing “obscene” materials after an illegal police search of her home for a fugitive. During the year of 1961, Ohio police were looking for a criminal accused of a bombing and had been told that he was hiding in Dollree Mapp 's house. Police acted quickly and came to her house but when she didn 't answer the door, police officers forced themselves inside. Dollree demanded to see the police 's search warrant once having spoken to her attorney but police didn’t have one so they held a piece of paper to disguise that it was a warrant when it really wasn’t. Dollree grabbed the paper and when trying to read it, she was then handcuffed on the ground and police continued to search her house (Landmark cases). During the search, officers found pornography and other materials that were against Ohio State law in her basement. As a result, Dollree was arrested, found guilty, and sentenced to 1 to 7 years in the Ohio Women 's Reformatory. Dollree felt that justice was unfair so she consulted with her attorney. “She appealed her conviction on the basis of freedom of expression” (Oyez). Dollree’s lawyers argued to the Supreme Court of Ohio that she should never have been brought to trial because the material evidence resulted from an illegal (warrantless) search and how it was illegally obtained. “In its ruling, the Supreme Court of Ohio
The second discrepancy with Fleming’s article is the role that schools, especially universities, should play in protecting students’ privacy online. The fact that Fleming lists multiple examples of minors being hurt by poor social networking decisions has nothing to do with the topic suggested in her title “Youthful Indiscretions: Should Colleges Protect Social Network Users from Themselves and Others?” This is a red herring fallacy that appeals to the reader’s emotions yet has nothing to do with the writer’s original topic. Protecting minors online is a separate issue in itself in which parents and likely schools should be involved. On the contrary, for college students, the FERPA policies under which Fleming says a university employee must adhere to are meant to protect
The divergent societal construction was not built in the same dictum on purpose for the New England and the Chesapeake region. The New England society was governmentally ruled with much more of a religious outlook and had much more of a union with it’s people, acting more as one than many. Obviously, the Chesapeake region had an adjacent society which also had a more economically literal driven society, in which case held many downfalls.
I chose these two states to compare because they are the states I have lived in throughout my life and are significant to me. I was born in Wilmington, North Carolina and lived there until I was 10 years old. My step-father received a job offer in Islamorada, Florida and we decided to move. I lived there until I graduated high school, following which I came to Orlando to go to college.
In the case of the State of North Carolina v. Lester Gerard Packingham, the question of whether a state can restrict sex offender’s from being on social media sites without restricting their constitutional rights is played out. Lester Packingham is a registered sex offender who was caught having a Facebook website profile even though it is against North Carolina state law. This paper will explore the constitutionality of N.C. Gen Stat. § 14–202.5 (2011) and will analyze the legal opinions of this case from both the Court of Appeals of North Carolina and Supreme Court of North Carolina and make an educated decision on whether the Supreme Court of North Carolina’s decision should be upheld or reversed.
Ashcroft vs. ACLU, 00-1293, deals with a challenge to the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), which Congress passed in 1998. The law, which is the subject of this essay, attempts to protect minors from exposure to Internet pornography by requiring that commercial adult websites containing "indecent" material that is "harmful to minors" use age-verification mechanisms such as credit cards or adult identification numbers.(Child)
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.
In Steubenville, Ohio two high school star football players were found guilty of rapping a sixteen year old girl. As part of the investigation, they went through the victim's messages and social media pages to collect the information since the young lady couldn’t remember what happened that night. They soon found out that a nude was taken, several text messages, and that the boys used their fingers to penetrate her. The boys sent the picture of her passed out naked to their fellow classmates. Judge Lipps says that they take in consideration of how teenagers act when they are intoxicated and in “how you record things on social media that are so prevalent today.”(The New York Times)
The North Carolina statute satisfies the ample alternative channel prong of the Ward test because it leaves various methods to disseminate and communicate information that is not limited by the statute. A regulation leaves ample alternatives if “adequate substitutes exist for the important medium of speech that has been closed off.”( City of Laduc v. Gilleo 56). In City of Ladue v. Gilleo, an ordinance was passed to prohibit residents from displaying certain signs on their property.(Id. at 45) Gilleo placed a sign that expressed a political message condemning the Persian Gulf war on one of the homes she owns in Ladue,MO.(Id.) After complaint about someone kicking down her sign, Gilleo notified that having the sign was prohibited in the city and sued on the basis that the ordinance violated her first amendment.(Id.
The political claim that sex offender laws for minors needs to be reexamined. Sexting should not be considered a felony charge for minors under the age of 17 years because Teens don’t understand the severe long-term effects of their actions ranging from embrassement to imprisonment or worse, death. They do not realize once the send button is hit their privacy is
“As the use of social media increases and becomes an integral part of nearly every student’s life, problems arise when student expression on these sites turns into threats against the school or other students, implicating both student safety and the speaker’s right to free speech” (Hughes 208). There’s no denying that social media has become a part of most people’s daily life. We have sites like Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc. These websites, or apps, allow us to express ourselves in any way possible, whether it’s supporting families who lost a member in a mass shooting, trying to impeach the latest president, or donating to those who are victims of natural disasters. It’s not always that social