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Friday, July 4, 2014

Thought Crime

That’s what makes the internet special. No matter how sick and disgusting a person’s worst thoughts, he can find others just as warped to share them and know that he’s not alone. Great. 
“The Internet is a forum for the free exchange of ideas, but it does not confer immunity for plotting crimes and taking steps to carry out those crimes,” - U.S. attorney Preet Bharara. 
“He is guilty of nothing more than very unconventional thoughts, but as Judge Gardephe has validated, we don’t put people in jail for their thoughts. We’re not the thought police, and the court system is not the deputies of the thought police.” - Julia Gatto attorney for the defense.
The key to a conspiracy, except a drug conspiracy,* is that there must be an overt act, a concrete step in furtherance of the commission of the offense that is the subject of the conspiracy.   
* In drug conspiracy, there is no requirement of an overt act. Thought alone, without more, is legally sufficient to prove a drug conspiracy.
That's a whole bunch of really scary stuff, all wrapped up in one little story.

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