(December 20, 2012 at 4:01 pm)popeyespappy Wrote:(December 20, 2012 at 3:54 pm)Jaysyn Wrote: Nope. As far as the law is concerned you are incorrect. What you seem to think is assault is actually battery.
It is amazing how many people don't know that if you tell someone you are going to kick their ass and they believe it you have committed a crime.
Hold on now. Do not confuse grey areas with real threats. Of course we can and do say things we don't actually mean, but that does not mean people don't ever make threats that are serious and should be treated like physical assault.
You can avoid in most cases mere confusion by either, avoiding it even as a joke, or make the joke so over the top that it is obvious to everyone. But threats do not deserve the same treatment say as other types of speech. Just like we can say the word fire, and say "fire" describes flame. But we cannot yell fire in a theater if there isn't one.
More current anti stalking laws and anti abuse laws are based on the ability to treat threats as assault.
Now having said that, I also agree that people CAN jump the gun and take something out of context.
But to say all speech should be treated the same just because we value freedom of speech is absurd. There is always a difference between regulation and ban.
When there is a credible threat, contact or not, and that threat is known to be real, and not simply lip service, I think law enforcement has every right to investigate. I never said however, that law should assume guilt either.
Most of the time when a threat is said and police are called MOST OF THE TIME it is credible and should be taken seriously. That is not to say we should become a society that spies on each other either.
But I do think it is perfectly acceptable to consider aiming a knife at anyone, WHEN IT IS CLEAR THEY ARE BEING SERIOUS, to consider it assault.
Now if you want to talk about degree of punishment as a result, that is when circumstances should be taken into account. Just like we don't treat mere distracted driving that kills someone the same as we do drunk driving.
