Mediaboss Marketing

Taking First Amendment class increases support for free speech

General support for the First Amendment has modestly increased among high school students in the past 15 years, but not across all demographics, according to a report released last week by the Knight Foundation.

It found that opinions were linked to both race and gender. Boys and white students were more likely to unequivocally support the First Amendment, while girls and nonwhite students were more likely to agree with the statement: The first amendment goes too far in its rights and guarantees.

Yet nonwhite students are the only demographic to see a slight decrease in support since 2004: Girls, boys, and white students all saw increased support.

Notably, students who have taken classes involving the First Amendment were more likely than others to support its various rights and protections, according to Knight, a nonprofit that promotes journalism.

Around two-thirds of students reported taking classes that touched on the First Amendment. This number has remained relatively steady over time, even though the gap in support has narrowed over time between those taking these classes and those not.

The initial Knight survey in 2004 involved more than 100,000 students at hundreds of high schools, and subsequent surveys including the most recent have selected roughly 10,000 students at a time from a randomly drawn sample of 30 to 40 high schools, according to the report. (The pool of high schools stayed the same through 2016.)

The College Fix could not arrange an interview with report author Evette Alexander, Knight Foundation director for learning and impact, before this article was published.

Only strongly disagree answer is for flag desecration

Students have been asked about wider cultural issues surrounding the First Amendment since the surveys inception in 2004. They include offensive song lyrics, public offensive speech and the responsibilities of social media companies.

According to the report, students tend to mildly agree with support for First Amendment protection of these areas on average. The only topic in which average support for the First Amendment dips into strongly disagree is flag burning and desecration.

On this subject of the flag, views started to diverge by race in 2016, with students of color much more likely to be milder in their disagreement with flag desecration.

The report speculates this could be a result of growing support for movements such as Black Lives Matter and for professional athletes kneeling during the national anthem. Nonwhite students are significantly more likely than their white counterparts to support the First Amendment right of athletes to kneel.

More ambiguously, news consumption was not a reliable predictor of support for the First Amendment. This may be a result of the surveys apparent failure to ask respondents what type of news they consume.

While news consumption did not necessarily predict support, students who reported often using social media in the 2018 survey were significantly more supportive of specific First Amendment rights and protections, the survey found.

MORE: Most high schoolers support censorship of offensive opinions

The report concludes that the divide is growing between students of color and white students. Both the gender and race gaps on the survey did not begin to show growth until around 2011.

Interestingly, the average opinions of white students have remained relatively stable, with students of color becoming increasingly less supportive of the First Amendments rights and protections.

The report found a modest increase in average disagreement with the statement the first amendment goes too far in its rights and guarantees, except for an unexplained sharp decline around 2006.

Overall opinions were steady between 2004-2006 and then again from 2011-2018. Between 2006 and 2011, however, there was a sharp drop and then a quick buildup back to general support for the First Amendments protections.

The report suggests the racial divisions can be partially explained by a contentious 2016 election and associated anti-immigrant, misogynistic and ethnic nationalist rhetoric. It cited the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017 and mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, this summer as having likely effects.

What the Northeast and the South share in common

The Knight Foundations press release notes that this divide beginning in 2011 correlates with the widespread adoption of social media. In a previous survey from 2018, 82 percent of college students believed that social media has led to an increase in hate speech.

When it comes to bullying, hate speech and other uses of social media involving the First Amendment, girls are more likely than boys to support government or school intervention.

Overall, students generally disagree with schools getting involved in First Amendment issues outside of the bounds of school, but the same gender and race gaps exist. Minorities and girls tend to agree with schools punishing offensive behavior, while boys and white students tend to disagree.

There were notable differences in support based on the region of the country as well. The West and the Midwest were more likely to disagree with the statement the first amendment goes too far in its rights and guarantees, while the Northeast and the South were more likely to agree with it.

The Midwest has most consistently disagreed over time, while the Northeast has most consistently agreed with the statement. The geographical data has fluctuated somewhat and is not entirely consistent.

Since 2004, the Northeast and South have become more similar, as have the Midwest and West, in terms of attitudes towards the First Amendment, according to the report.

Opinions on the surveys statement tend to show a divide between the East Coast and West Coast, as opposed to North and South. The north vs. south political belief that the former is liberal and the latter is conservative does not play out in the results of the survey.

The South is perplexing in this survey because its largely red states with conservative values, but here they tend to agree that the First Amendment goes too far.

MORE: College women, blacks favor inclusivity over free speech

IMAGE: zimmytws / Shutterstock.com

Read More

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter

See the original post here:
Nonwhites are the only high school students whose support for First Amendment has fallen: survey - The College Fix

By Linda Bryant

Many jails across the country, in an effort to reduce costs and offer inmates more opportunities for connection with loved ones and friends, increasingly rely on inmate video visitation. According to the American Bar Association, as of July 2018, over 600 correctional facilities across the country hadimplemented some form of video visitation. Jails invoke laudable justifications for incorporating video visitation into their offerings: to prevent the influx ofcontrabandinto their facility, to free up limited officer time, and to offer family and friends more opportunities to connect with their loved one.

However, there are three inmate video visitation landmines that can create legal challenges for jail administrators. If these landmines exist in your facility, you can expect lawsuits asserting your jail is violating the constitution by unreasonably restricting aninmates First Amendment rightto communicate and associate with others.

Often, a jail moves towardsupplanting in-person visitation with video visitation. This is the wrong approach unless you want to be an easy target for plaintiffs lawyers. Lawsuits challenging video visitation are increasing against jails that use the technology to justify a decrease in or to eliminate in-person visitation. These lawsuits are ending in settlements requiring in-person visitation, payment of large fees associated with civil litigation alleging a violation of constitutional rights, and state laws clarifying that in-person visitation may not be supplanted by video visitation.

The American Bar AssociationsCriminal Justice Sections Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by the ABAs House of Delegates in 2010, warns about eliminating in-person visitation. Standard 23-8.5(e), the standard governing visitation, states:Correctional officials should develop and promote other forms of communication between prisoners and their families, including video visitation, provided that such options are not a replacement for opportunities for in-person contact.[1]

Jail leaders should also heed the 2016 American Correctional AssociationPublic Correctional Policy on Family-Friendly Communication and Visitation, which states:Correctional agencies should promote communication between offenders and their family and friends and adopt family-friendly policies that use emerging technologies as supplements to existing in-person visitation.[2]

The bottom line is to remember the key phrase: SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT!

A common business model for video visitation and large phone contracts between vendors and jails is for the vendor to charge for a call or video visitation session sometimes at an unreasonably high cost and provide some of the revenue earned back to the jail. The 2016 ACA Public Correctional Policy referenced earlier again provides the lodestar:Do not place unreasonable financial burdens upon the offender or their family and friends. The policy goes on to state:Establish rates and surcharges that are commensurate with those charged to the general public for like services any deviation from ordinary consumer rates should reflect actual costs associated with the provision of services within a correctional setting.[2]

Look, this has to be said: Anytime you have a jail profiting off the fundamental human need to communicate with family members and friends, or when exorbitant fees are charged to simply exercise this right, youre going to raise a lot of eyebrows. Its going to appear you are exploiting people and doing so knowingly and unconstitutionally. The incredible responsibility jail leaders have for the care, custody, and control of individuals, many of whom have not been convicted, does not include the ability to profit off of those same individuals, or to charge those same individuals for a lesser-quality form of visitation (where the constitutionally preferred in-person visitation is free).

While reasonable fees are defensible, exorbitant fees and kickback models are viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism by the courts. And no matter what, if you are charging fees for visitation in the absence of any opportunity for in-person visitation, you should talk to your lawyer quickly.

Weve all been frustrated by bad or lost reception during an important phone call or Facetime, Skype, Teams or Zoom session. Now imagine if your only means of communicating with the outside world was limited to a few minutes each week, and through a provider nowhere near as cutting-edge as some of the better-known telecommunications or social media giants. Through no fault of your own, your call (which your loved one paid for while also trying to pay other bills and put food on the table for your kids) is cut short. Or, the video freezes. Or the audio is out of sync with the video.

Any of these technological glitches lead to a horrible user experience. So you end up having to manage your frustrations and concentrate doubly hard to hear half the conversation. You wind up frustrated during the call. Its hard enough for an adult to cognitively piece together sentences and conversations in these instances; imagine if youre trying to communicate with your small child in this manner. That small child will soon lose patience and do something else, wasting the precious few minutes you receive to visit with family.

A study by the Minnesota Department of Corrections foundin-person visits decreased inmate recidivism by 13 percent. [3] Other research has shown thatin-person parent-child visits improve outcomes for children with incarcerated parents as well as for the inmates. [4] All jail professionals know the value of any program that reduces recidivism. Faulty inmate video visitation technology, or a faulty video visitation experience, swallows the visitation session itself and detracts from rather than enhances the purpose of visitation: maintaining strong bonds with loved ones and the community to ensure success upon release.

Jail leaders must remember that being able to connect with loved ones helps reaffirm ones humanity in an otherwise dehumanizing situation and serves to ease an inmates return to the community upon release. Against this backdrop, inmate video visitation is like any technology it can be beneficial or destructive. Avoiding the three landmines listed above will help ensure video visitation enhances your jails visitation offerings without endangering inmates constitutional rights or reducing their chances of successfully transitioning back into society.

References

1. American Bar Association. Standard 23-8.5: Visiting.Standards on Treatment of Prisoners.

2. American Correctional Association. Public Correctional Policy on Family-Friendly Communication and Visitation.Public Correctional Policies(see page 82).

3. Minnesota Department of Corrections.The Effects of Prison Visitation on Offender Recidivism.

4, Poehlmann J, Dallaire D, Booker Loper A, et al. Childrens contact with their incarcerated parents: Research findings and recommendations.American Psychologist. 2010 Sep; 65(6): 575598.

About the author

Linda Bryany, JD, CJM, was appointed by the Governor of Virginia to the Virginia Parole Board. Parachutist-qualified, she served as a Captain on active duty in the U.S. Army and a Major in the Army Reserves. For over 17 years, she prosecuted violent crime and homicides for the city of Norfolk, VA, rising through the ranks to become a Deputy Commonwealths Attorney. In 2013, Linda was appointed to serve as Deputy Attorney General for the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Division of the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, where she oversaw the litigation of all lawsuits against the Virginia Department of Corrections. She has also served as the assistant superintendent and compliance attorney for a mega-jail that houses special management inmates. Currently, Linda is a consultant for Lexipols Corrections solutions and a consultant and instructor for the American Jail Association.

See the rest here:
Inmate video visitation and the First Amendment: 3 landmines to avoid - CorrectionsOne

A group of activists and other Rochester residents are asking Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo not to sign a controversial law. WXXIs James Brown has details.

Rev. Lewis Stewart, faith leaders and criminal justice advocates are asking Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo not to sign a controversial law.

The measure, passed this month, makes it illegal to annoy, alarm or threaten the personal safety of first responders and various forms of law enforcement. Those who do, would face a hefty fine and possibly jail time. It passed in a party-line vote earlier this month. The bills co-author, County Legislator Karla Boyce, said she was inspired to introduce the bill by recent instances of first responders put in danger.

Opponents say similar bills were stuck down in courts because they were overbroad and unconstitutional. Theyre also worried the law would disproportionately affect people of color.

Stewart calls the bill ridiculous, tyrannical and said it tramples on the first amendment.

A police officer might be annoyed by a citizen using a phone and his or her camera or annoyed by a protest sign and they will suffer a penalty via this legislation, said Stewart.

Democratic Legislator Vince Felder said he asked the countys law department to explain the circumstances where someone could be charged with annoying an officer. He said they couldnt. Felder doesnt doubt the sincerity behind the bill but he does question its language, in particular, using the word annoy.

First of all, its a subjective thought process that youve put in the hands of a police officer, Felder said. Secondly, the (U.S.) Supreme Court has ruled over and over again that you can cuss police officers out, you can stick your middle finger up at them, you can do just about anything and its protected.

Felder also said that Republican lawmakers didnt follow appropriate protocol because the bill was considered as a matter of urgency and was not taken through the typical committee process.

A nearly identical law is on the table in Broome County. Several people were arrested and more than 100 protesters packed a county legislature meeting in Binghamton Thursday. Their goal was to stop an ordinance nearly identical to Monroe Countys.

The measure has not yet been approved in Binghamton. In law awaits Dinolfos signature in Monroe County. Thats expected in December.

The group also took issue with efforts of local law enforcement leaders to slow down the states criminal justice reforms. The new laws limit pre-trial detention and eliminate cash bail for nonviolent offenses, among other changes. They take effect in January.

Law enforcement leaders across the state, including many in Rochester, are asking that Gov. Andrew Cuomo reconsider the new laws and give them more time and money for implementation.

Originally posted here:
Activists say new harassment law tramples on the first amendment' - WXXI News

Eric Rasmusen is a tenured business school professor at Indiana University Bloomington; for many years, he's posted a stream of "racist, sexist, and homophobic views" to his personal social media, including the idea that women do not belong in the workplace (he often refers to women by slurs like "slut" when discussing this and other subjects); that gay men should not be allowed in academia because of their insatiable sexual appetites and propensity for abusing students; that Black students are academically inferior to white students and do not belong at elite academic institutions.

Indiana U is a state college and bound by the First Amendment's prohibition on discrimination on the basis of speech and Rasmusen has confined his odious speech acts to his personal social media, apparently refraining from voicing these views on campus while acting in a professional capacity. As a result, it's the view of the university provost that he cannot be fired, despite her characterization of Rasmusen's views as "vile and stupid" and "stunningly ignorant." Provost Lauren Robel has also said that her own respect for the First Amendment is such that she would not fire Rasmusen for his personal views, even if she could.

However, Robel and the university acknowledge that Rasmusen's views call into question his impartiality and also expose students to a reasonable belief that they could not be fairly graded or assessed by Rasmusen. Accordingly the university has undertaken a pari of extraordinary measures to protect students without trampling the First Amendment.

1. All classes that Rasmusen teaches will also be offered by another instructor so that any student can chose to take the class without coming into contact with Rasmusen.

2. Rasmusen will be required to grade all assignments on a double-blind basis, and when that is not possible, he will be closely supervised by another business school prof who will ensure that he does not practice discrimination.

The provost goes on to say that this is not exhaustive, and the university is prepared to take further steps to protect students and faculty members from Rasmusen's bigotry.

Rasmusen's publications include articles like "Are Women Destroying Academia? Probably." He has posted a detailed rebuttal to the provost's article.

I think the most interesting thing about this is that Rasmusen was tenured: for decades after the rise of Reaganism, a lot of people assumed that right wingers who dabbled in eugenics, white supremacy, dominionism and other medieval/crypto-fascist ideas were just colorful provocateurs LARPing Archie Bunker. It turned out they were deadly fucking serious. They were a sleeper cell from Gilead, and now they're finished masturbating over the Turner Diaries and have broken cover and plan on enacting a full-blown Dominionist white theocracy.

The First Amendment is strong medicine, and works both ways. All of us are free to condemn views that we find reprehensible, and to do so as vehemently and publicly as Professor Rasmusen expresses his views. We are free to avoid his classes, and demand that the university ensure that he does not, or has not, acted on those views in ways that violate either the federal and state civil rights laws or IUs nondiscrimination policies. I condemn, in the strongest terms, Professor Rasmusens views on race, gender, and sexuality, and I think others should condemn them. But my strong disagreement with his viewsindeed, the fact that I find them loathsomeis not a reason for Indiana University to violate the Constitution of the United States.

On the First Amendment [Lauren Robel/Indiana University]

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans was shock doctrined through a massive, neoliberal transformation, the centerpiece of which was a replacement of the public school system with a system entirely made up of charter schools.

20 years ago, Illinois was rocked by a scandal after the widespread practice of locking schoolchildren, especially those with disabilities or special needs, in small, confining boxes was revealed. The teachers who imprisoned these children argued that they did so out of the interests of safety -- that of the imprisoned students, of the other []

Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy is a marvellous interdisciplinary research center, and it is advertising for "visitors" for one-year stints: postdocs, policy fellows and visiting IT professors.

It should be obvious to anyone who has ever opened up a web page that the route to a career in Silicon Valley does not necessarily travel through a traditional university. Even so, budding coders need guidance and the right expertise. Thats where the Treehouse Project comes in. Its built for self-starters and contains a []

What does it take to be an effective project manager? These days, its more than just amorphous people skills. Methodologies like Agile, Scrum and Six Sigma lay out a proven roadmap for completing big jobs not just in software but in any industry. If youve got the will to master them, the Premium 2020 Project []

Craft is a buzzword that gets thrown around a lot these days, but what does it actually mean? Sadly, its all too easy to fake craftsmanship when looks are all you have to go by. On the other hand, you know from the first cut whether youre handling a good chefs knife or not. And []

Original post:
Indiana University Provost: The First Amendment says we can't fire our notorious bigot professor, so here's what we're doing instead - Boing Boing

President Trumps use of Twitter to shape the narrative is notorious. True to form, he was tweeting fast and furious during the impeachment hearings. Negative testimony about the presidents interactions with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly incited his aggressive retorts, prompting speculation about whether his outbursts may be viewed as witness intimidation. Citing the First Amendment, Trump claims he is free to say what he pleases, including name-calling and denigrating witnesses. But is it criminal witness intimidation?

A number of recent cases have examined the use of social media platforms to conduct witness intimidation. In 2018, the Eleventh Circuit upheld the witness tampering conviction of a woman who posted on Facebook the name of a potential witness in her brothers criminal trial who she warned not to get upon the stand, posting watch out little snitch. The Supreme Court too has had occasion to consider the criminality of Facebook posts suggesting that the defendants soon-to-be ex-wife should be killed. Even beyond our prolific president, the issue of improper use of digital media to harass or intimidate has seeped into the political realm. Earlier this year, House Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Fl) was censured for tweets made on the eve of congressional testimony from former Trump attorney, Michael Cohen, suggesting that unfavorable information about Cohen would be released if he testified.

Recent impeachment-related tweets from Trump are not the first public statements from the president to be called into question. Critics previously argued that the president was obstructing justice by dangling a pardon to his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, during the Mueller investigation. Tweets expressing sympathy for Manafort and referring to him as a brave man in contrast to his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who cooperated with authorities and was referred to by Trump as a coward were viewed as a subtle message to Manafort to stay strong and possibly reap the benefits ala a presidential pardon.

Trumps tweets about the Whistleblower who filed the complaint that has instigated the impeachment hearings also have been questioned. A September 26, 2019 tweet likened the Whistleblower to a spy and further stated You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? With spies and treason, right? We used to handle them a little differently than we do now. This tweet prompted the Whistleblowers attorneys to send a letter to the Acting Director of National Intelligence expressing concern for their clients anonymity and safety.

Most recently, a tweet from President Trump blasting Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine, as she testified has been called witness intimidation. After hearing Trumps statement that everywhere she went turned bad, Yovanovitch herself stated that it was intimidating. Democrats opined that the Presidents tactics would, and were intended to, scare off other potential witnesses.

The Law of Witness Intimidation

Knowingly using intimidation or threats to influence testimony in an official proceeding, such as a proceeding before Congress, is a crime under Section 1512 of the United States Code. Whether a presidential tweet storm might be considered a violation of this statute centers on a few questions: 1) when can a tweet or public statement implicate Section 1512; 2) when are tweets or statements considered a threat under federal law; and 3) what is the requisite criminal intent?

Section 1512 has been applied to social media posts. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the conviction under Section 1512 of Delexsia Harris, who took to Facebook two weeks before her brothers trial for murder. Harris posted threatening statements and depictions of guns and bombs pointing at police cars alongside broad references to individuals identified as potential witnesses in the case. (886 F3d 1120) Harris also named one witness directly. Stating that the question of whether a communication is a threat is a factual question to be resolved by a jury, the Court upheld the jurys determination that a reasonable recipient, familiar with the context of the communication, would interpret [Harriss posts] as a threat.

In Trumps case, Democrats argue that his tweet made during Ambassador Yovanovitchs testimony could have had an effect both on Yovanovitch, who was still in the process of providing information to Congress, as well as on other potential witnesses. The Second Circuit has held that the language of Section 1512 does not require the intimidating statement or threat be directly made to the threatened individual. (US v. Veliz, 800 F.3d 63 (2d Cir. 2015)). The statute states that a violation occurs when the defendant engages in wrongful conduct toward another person with the intent to influence any person in an official proceeding. Accordingly, a threat to X which causes Y to withhold information, qualifies as witness intimidation so long as the person making the threat had corrupt intent.

Section 1512 requires proof of specific corrupt intent to intimidate or persuade a witness either not to testify or to alter his or her testimony. Reasonable minds differ on Trumps motivation. The witness intimidation claims made against Representative Gaetz earlier this year suggest that even where the motivation to intimidate or persuade arguably is clearer, it may not rise to the level of criminality.

The night before Trumps former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was scheduled to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Gaetz, a staunch defender of Trump, tweeted Hey @MichaelCohen212- Do your wife & father-in-law know about your girlfriends? Maybe tonight would be a good time for that chat. I wonder if shell remain faithful to you when youre in prison. Shes about to learn a lot . Gaetz defended claims that he was threatening Cohen by stating that he was only challenging the veracity and character of a witness. No criminal charges were brought against Gaetz and an investigation into his behavior by the Florida Bar resulted only in a written censure. In this highly-charged political environment, evidence of criminal intent may be difficult to prove.

Interaction with the First Amendment

The First Amendment may add another layer of protection to unbridled tweeters. The Supreme Court had occasion to consider what distinguishes a true threat from speech protected by the First Amendment in Elonis v. United States in 2014. The Court reviewed Eloniss conviction for transmitting in interstate commerce a communication containing a threat to injure the person of another under 18 U.S.C. 875(c). Specifically, Elonis made a series of posts on Facebook suggesting that his soon-to-be ex-wife should be killed. Other posts contained threats against police, the FBI and a kindergarten class. On appeal, Eloniss lawyer argued the conviction should be overturned because Elonis lacked the requisite specific intent to injure, was just venting about his personal problems, and did not mean to threaten anyone.

The question as phrased by the Supreme Court was whether the statute required that the defendant be aware of the threatening nature of the communication and, if not, whether the First Amendment required such a showing. Unfortunately, the Courts opinion did not resolve the question directly, but took issue with the Third Circuits application of a reasonable person standard a civil tort concept to determine the defendants criminal intent, stating that wrongdoing must be conscious to be criminal. The conviction was reversed and the matter was remanded to the Third Circuit. Thereafter, the Third Circuit found the error to be harmless and affirmed the conviction because Elonis testified at trial that he knew his posts would be viewed as threats, thereby satisfying the knowledge element of the crime.

Conclusion

Courts and attorneys are going to have to contemplate how the use of Twitter and other social medium platforms increasingly used as a forum for political and commercial speech must be analyzed under criminal statutes. Like any other form of communication, courts correctly have determined that these types of public statements may be viewed as threats subject to criminal charges. Whether the conduct is criminal will depend upon first, whether a reasonable person familiar with the context within which the statement was made would view it as a threat, and second, whether the speaker intended to intimidate. Certainly, the words and the speakers power and ability to make good on the threat will play a part in that analysis.

To read more fromRobert J. Anello, please visitwww.maglaw.com.

Go here to read the rest:
Intimidation or Free Speech: Are Trump's Tweets Witness Tampering? - Forbes