If you take to the Internet and social media to make threats against other people, even if you don’t mean it or have no intention of backing it up, it can still result in serious repercussions.
And an incident in New Miami High last week further highlights exactly that point, along with another that our younger readers will hopefully take heed of – and that is it really doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still find yourself behind bars for acting recklessly online (albeit the bars may belong to a juvenile detention center)
Just ask two New Miami High students, aged 14 and 15, who made public posts on Facebook that expressed vehement disgust towards their school, as well as, according to local law enforcement, “something about a shooting”.
After the posts were picked up by a teacher who duly notified the police, the two girls were taken into custody and booked into the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center.
Many people, especially kids and teens, can fall under the illusion that just because they’re typing into the online, digital world of their smartphone, laptop or PC, then the consequences of their actions may not be real. The two highschool students in our article now know that not to be true – their charges are very real. One count of inducing panic, a second-degree felony, and one count of making terroristic threats, a third-degree felony.
So whether it’s posting threats against your school, your pop idols latest girlfriend (One Direction and Justin Bieber fans take note) or even against a classmate, the consequences are real, even if you didn’t mean it, and no matter how old you are.
Further Reading –
Teens arrested after posting “terroristic threats” on Facebook – News Journal