excessive punishment for abusive tweeter?

[Asal Mor]

Sorry for being behind the times here but I've just been reading about the case of the Swansea student who got jailed for 56 days for posting racist comments about Fabrice Muamba after he collapsed at White Hart Lane. Anyone else on here think this was extremely harsh and more of the pandering to political correctness that has become the norm in our society. A stupid , drunlken kid posts some mindless abuse and has his life ruined. Could the police not just have given him a fright and told him to cop on. I think if people are going to be prosecuted for comments on the net it should only be for geuinely damaging accusations   eg. Mr. so and so likes fondling his farm animal's genitalia.

I felt very sorry for this young fella when reading the part at the end about how he was on the phone to his mother for an hour bawling his eyes out (obviously after he'd sobered up and realised what he'd done).

Here is the link if anyone hasn't already read about it
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2121003/Liam-Stacey-jail-tweeting-abuse-Fabrice-Muamba.html

[oisinog]

If I understand the law correctly it was brough it to help cut down on cyber buylling.

Kids have take their own life over the head of abuse taken on Facebook and Twitter.

If you read the abuse it was not minor and it was several tweets over 8-10 hours

[Asal Mor]

If I understand the law correctly it was brough it to help cut down on cyber buylling.

Kids have take their own life over the head of abuse taken on Facebook and Twitter.

If you read the abuse it was not minor and it was several tweets over 8-10 hours

That's a fair point Oisin I suppose. I haven't seen the tweets but got the impression that it was more general, foul - mouthed, racist stuff than anything and not personally damaging to anyone in the way cyber bullying is.

[oisinog]

I cant rember the exact words but he made a racist remark and stated that he was happy he was dead.

A member of the public reported it to Twitter and they deemed that it was in breach of the law and had to report it to the police

[Asal Mor]

I cant rember the exact words but he made a racist remark and stated that he was happy he was dead.

A member of the public reported it to Twitter and they deemed that it was in breach of the law and had to report it to the police

For a crime to have been committed I would think someone would have to have been seriously damaged or slandered personally by his comments. I still think it's ludicrous.

[Saffrongael]

I cant rember the exact words but he made a racist remark and stated that he was happy he was dead.

A member of the public reported it to Twitter and they deemed that it was in breach of the law and had to report it to the police

For a crime to have been committed I would think someone would have to have been seriously damaged or slandered personally by his comments. I still think it's ludicrous.

Of course it was excessive, terrible what happened to Muamba but it became a cause célèbre, people were outdoing each other with the grief.

[haranguerer]

PR prosecuting.

[AZOffaly]

I cant rember the exact words but he made a racist remark and stated that he was happy he was dead.

A member of the public reported it to Twitter and they deemed that it was in breach of the law and had to report it to the police

No, I think it was the initial tweet something like 'Ha ha F**K Muamba, he's dead #haha' that just started it off. People responded to it, and then he launched a series of stupid racist tweets which were picked up by Stan Collymore among others. Numerous people reported him to the Police and to Twitter.

[pintsofguinness]

I think the 56 days of a jail is a bit ott unless they're going to give that to anyone else who makes racist comments (which would be fine by me).

That said, he's hardly a kid, he's 21 and I've no sympathy. 

Btw, the crackdown in racist/homophobic comments/actions should be welcomed rather than scoffed at as "pandering to political correctness". 

[EC Unique]

Totally over the top. This sort of stuff goes on every day but because it was directed at a 'celeb' he gets jail. Bad Craic to be at but does not merit a custodial sentence. PC gone mad.

[trileacman]

Would make you think though, of all the crimes that go unpunished, not investigated or simply ignored why does this guy get pulled for it. Yes it was stupid and he is an idiot but how many other crimes were missed to prosecute this one guy? All the drink-driver's, thefts and assaults that go without charges due to lack of evidence or lack of resources, should we be applauding the fact this lad was jailed or pointing out the other incidents that go unpunished?

[screenmachine]

The thing I can't understand is how you can jail a drunk student for making a stupid racist remark on Twitter but you have the England captain, John Terry, caught on live TV calling a fellow professional a black **** or something to that affect.

The student is jailed in a matter of days but handily enough Terry gets his case put back to the end of a major football competition a few months away, the result of which remains to be seen.

I'm sure there are hundreds/thousands of people bullied and racially abused on Twitter and Facebook every day, does this not set a precedent where every piece of racist abuse online should be met with a custodial sentence?   Seems very OTT to me...

[ziggysego]

The thing I can't understand is how you can jail a drunk student for making a stupid racist remark on Twitter but you have the England captain, John Terry, caught on live TV calling a fellow professional a black **** or something to that affect.

The student is jailed in a matter of days but handily enough Terry gets his case put back to the end of a major football competition a few months away, the result of which remains to be seen.

I'm sure there are hundreds/thousands of people bullied and racially abused on Twitter and Facebook every day, does this not set a precedent where every piece of racist abuse online should be met with a custodial sentence?   Seems very OTT to me...

You talk an insurmountable amount of bollocks most of the time screen, but you're spot on here.

[screenmachine]

Och thanks Ziggy, that means a lot to me.