Jim Rosica
Despite concerns about its effectiveness, a House panel Wednesday unanimously cleared legislation to tweak state law on making threats online.
The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee OK’d the bill (HB 165), backed by Belleview Republican Stan McClain, who said he was prompted by “the explosion of social media in our society.”
State law now makes it a second-degree felony to write and send “a threat to kill or to do bodily injury,” including by “electronic communication.”
But a recent state appellate decision highlighted the problem of prosecuting such cases when threats are posted on social media, as opposed to being sent by email, and are not necessarily aimed at one person.
“A juvenile’s conviction … was overturned, although the juvenile had posted multiple threats of school violence on Twitter, because the threats were not directly sent to or received by any of the threatened students or school officials,” a staff analysis explained.
McClain’s bill would outlaw “written threats to kill or do bodily injury to another person that are publicly posted online, even if not specifically sent to or received by the person who is the subject of the threat,” the analysis said.
Though the bill was supported by law enforcement representatives and the Florida League of Cities, critics questioned whether the crime would be charged by the act or the number of people who see the threat posted online.
The crime “is in the posting, not in the viewing,” McClain said.
Others, including state Rep. Thad Altman, an Indialantic Republican, asked what happens when someone posts “I’m going to kill you” in a moment of rage.
Brevard and Seminole counties State Attorney Phil Archer, representing the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, said law enforcement, unfortunately, must “take every threat as if it is going to occur.”
But it’s unlikely that such a case, once the facts come out, would be prosecuted, he added.
Still, Rep. Julio Gonzalez, Venice Republican and vice-chair of the subcommittee, suggested McClain’s legislation wasn’t “at the final level” as it tries to walk a fine line between “real threat” and “people acting stupid.”
“As much as we may like to, we cannot illegalize people acting stupid,” Gonzalez said, before voting for the bill.
It next heads to the Justice Appropriations Subcommittee.
