NY to make drawing a noose a felony

[preslove]

Drawing a noose in a threatening letter to a black person is a symbolic death/assault threat. It is saying "I would like to attack you" without putting those incriminating words on paper.

Is your liberty really being violated by making it illegal to write a racist, threatening letter with nooses in it to a black man?

Monday's Senate vote came as New York City police said a black high school teacher in Brooklyn had been targeted with a letter containing racial slurs and a string tied into a noose.
The 44-year-old teacher at Canarsie High School told police she received the letter and the noose through the mail. Police say they have no suspects.

The discovery is among a number of recent incidents involving symbols of lynchings in the Old South.

Nooses were found earlier this month on a black professor's door at Columbia University, outside a post office near ground zero in lower Manhattan and in locations on Long Island. There have been no arrests.

There have been a number of other nooses found in high-profile incidents around the country - in a black Coast Guard cadet's bag, on a Maryland college campus, and in the Jenna Six case in Louisiana, where six black teenagers were charged with beating a white student. The incident happened after nooses were hung from a tree on a high school campus there.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yes, I worry about the state of affairs when you cannot draw a noose anymore...:roll:

Oh wait, there's the slippery slope argument. Today I can't draw a noose and tomorrow I won't be able to call Bush a blithering idiot.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Citrix
i agree with you brxndxn, but its damn right scary that law makers are even considering it.

Scary too that they apparently have nothing better to do.

Wasting taxpayer money = a felony?

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: Citrix
i agree with you brxndxn, but its damn right scary that law makers are even considering it.

Considering it is NEW YORK, the most LIBERAL state in the country, I'm not surprised at all.

EDIT: And yes, I know the sponsor is a Republican.

 

[Wuffsunie]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Citrix
i agree with you brxndxn, but its damn right scary that law makers are even considering it.

Scary too that they apparently have nothing better to do.

Wasting taxpayer money = a felony?

Wouldn't most of government automatically wind up in prison then?

 

[teddyv]

by making it illegal to write a racist, threatening letter with nooses in it to a black man?

Already is.

 

[preslove]

Originally posted by: teddyv

by making it illegal to write a racist, threatening letter with nooses in it to a black man?

Already is.

Actually, no, it isn't.

THIS BILL ONLY MAKES IT ILLEGAL TO DISPLAY A NOOSE IN A THREATENING MANNER!!!!

The anti-noose legislation (S6499) would amend New York?s aggravated harassment statute (Penal Law Section 240.31) to make it a class E felony to etch, paint, draw, place or display a noose with intent to threaten, intimidate or harass. In 2006, in response to similar past incidents involving swastikas and burning crosses, the State Legislature supported and former Governor Pataki approved amending the State?s penal law to make the use of those symbols a crime. The bill was sent to the Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Lentol.

Linky

In order to be convicted of this crime, the state has to prove your INTENT to threaten.

/thread.

 

[Auryg]

Originally posted by: preslove

Originally posted by: teddyv

by making it illegal to write a racist, threatening letter with nooses in it to a black man?

Already is.

Actually, no, it isn't

THIS BILL ONLY MAKES IT ILLEGAL TO DISPLAY A NOOSE IN A THREATENING MANNER!!!!

The anti-noose legislation (S6499) would amend New York?s aggravated harassment statute (Penal Law Section 240.31) to make it a class E felony to etch, paint, draw, place or display a noose with intent to threaten, intimidate or harass. In 2006, in response to similar past incidents involving swastikas and burning crosses, the State Legislature supported and former Governor Pataki approved amending the State?s penal law to make the use of those symbols a crime. The bill was sent to the Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Lentol.

Linky

In order to be convicted of this crime, the state has to prove your INTENT to threaten.

/thread.

It's already illegal to threaten somebody, no matter how you do it.

 

[daveymark]

this is just as stupid as hate crimes. it's a crime to begin with, adding another adjective to it doesn't make it any worse

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: Citrix
i agree with you brxndxn, but its damn right scary that law makers are even considering it.

Considering it is NEW YORK, the most LIBERAL state in the country

Wrong.

 

[TheVrolok]

lol, this is just absurd.

 

[grrl]

Originally posted by: Pabster

Originally posted by: Citrix
i agree with you brxndxn, but its damn right scary that law makers are even considering it.

Considering it is NEW YORK, the most LIBERAL state in the country, I'm not surprised at all.

EDIT: And yes, I know the sponsor is a Republican.

You're a moron.

 

[Pabster]

Originally posted by: grrl
You're a moron.

Thanks for the compliment.

 

[teddyv]

Actually, no, it isn't.

The question was not about the use of nooses, where intent may indeed be an issue. The statement to which I responded involved "writing a racist, threatening letter...." With or without nooses, whether or not it was racist, the very act of intentionally threatening someone, well, removes the burden to show intent.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Wonderful. Reason 14735 why our country is starting to really suck. If our political system isn't a never ending line of diminishing returns I don't know what is.

 

[mrkun]

Originally posted by: Citrix

Originally posted by: mrkun
I think many people are overreacting to this. Lawmakers propose all sorts of absurd legislation just to aggrandize themselves knowing perfectly well that it will never come to be. This is no exception.

the measure that passed Monday in the Senate

The OP misrepresented the law. It requires the intention to threaten, intimidate, etc. (which are already illegal as others have pointed out). Like someone else said, it justs the makes the original crime more severe like hate crime laws do. I agree it's dumb, but that's not the same thing as making it illegal to create/display a noose by itself.

 

[TehMac]

Hate crimes are just stupid.

This whole thing is so stupid. We need to kick lawmakers out of office.

 

[SlitheryDee]

If this goes on...

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: preslove

Originally posted by: teddyv

by making it illegal to write a racist, threatening letter with nooses in it to a black man?

Already is.

Actually, no, it isn't.

THIS BILL ONLY MAKES IT ILLEGAL TO DISPLAY A NOOSE IN A THREATENING MANNER!!!!

The anti-noose legislation (S6499) would amend New York?s aggravated harassment statute (Penal Law Section 240.31) to make it a class E felony to etch, paint, draw, place or display a noose with intent to threaten, intimidate or harass. In 2006, in response to similar past incidents involving swastikas and burning crosses, the State Legislature supported and former Governor Pataki approved amending the State?s penal law to make the use of those symbols a crime. The bill was sent to the Assembly, where it is sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Lentol.

Linky

In order to be convicted of this crime, the state has to prove your INTENT to threaten.

/thread.

no its not /thread.

legislation like this a threat against our freedoms and law makers have no business making laws on what a person draws, paints or etches.

:|

 

[Demon-Xanth]

That would make the cop cars in the town I grew up in illegal:
http://www.cnn.com/US/9811/27/hangtown/

 

[Linux23]

I'm for a law that states that the victim could retaliate using any means necessary without being prosecuted. This would put an end to this noose fiasco.