Reply to: Man get 4 months in prison for a wearing a t-shirt the state enforcers didnt like

[KentPhilip]

I think they should have arrested him and burned the tee shirt.
And as an extra concession they should have let him take it off first..

[d000hg]

The people wearing those probably won't have 77 prior convictions and still be on probation of some sort... and those shirts don't promote killing the current PM.


So there's a gap in the market.

[mudskipper]

I hope they're building some very big prisons for when Maggie dies.

[escapeUK]

Well it's still offensive.

How would you like it if your boss came in the morning and gloated about the fact that your son had just died.

Would you consider that free speech? because that is basically what this was about.

Id consider him a ****, but I wouldnt consider it a criminal offence. I dont have a boss btw, as Im a contractor.

[northernladuk]

I think the title 'Anti-police tee shirt' is a bit of an understatement though. You could have an general anti police statement and get away with it. This was directly related to a serious incident which puts it in a different catagory.

Voicing your opinion of the police should be ok but being grossly offensive, lacking in common sense and being an utter moron should get you in trouble IMO.

EDIT... It also says in the article that he is 'a serial offender'. Anyone normal would probably get a severe bollocking about this but if he is a serial offender then there is no wiggle room.

[BlasterBates]

But inciting means to calculatingly say things that make people do the things you want them to do, and obviously these things have to be illegal. You also have to ask, would any rational person be incited to kill a police officer by reading his t-shirt? Clearly not. I guess this is why he wasnt charged with this offence.

Well it's still offensive.

How would you like it if your boss came in the morning and gloated about the fact that your son had just died.

Would you consider that free speech? because that is basically what this was about.

[northernladuk]

Freedom of speech is stupid.

You can't say that.

[DodgyAgent]

But inciting means to calculatingly say things that make people do the things you want them to do, and obviously these things have to be illegal. You also have to ask, would any rational person be incited to kill a police officer by reading his t-shirt? Clearly not. I guess this is why he wasnt charged with this offence.

Hitler managed it with a few million Jews

[escapeUK]

If you are being insulting or deliberately offensive yes of course. Telling someon to f*** off is an offence. Obviously saying f*** off wouldn't result in more than a fine. Inciting people to hate or violence is prisonable i.e. "kill a cop for fun".

But inciting means to calculatingly say things that make people do the things you want them to do, and obviously these things have to be illegal. You also have to ask, would any rational person be incited to kill a police officer by reading his t-shirt? Clearly not. I guess this is why he wasnt charged with this offence.

[vetran]

You may have noticed that the moderators here will remove personally offensive posts. That's because it isn't acceptable.

Ah that's why my post count is so low

[BlasterBates]

Are you saying that outraging a member of the public is an offence that someone should be arrested for?

If you are being insulting or deliberately offensive yes of course. Telling someon to f*** off is an offence. Obviously saying f*** off wouldn't result in more than a fine. Inciting people to hate or violence is prisonable i.e. "kill a cop for fun". If you were to ring the police up and ask them to arrest them because they'd told you to f** off you wouldn't get very far, but if someone was knocking on your door or ringing you up and telling you to f*** off on a regular basis I think they would.

That's the law, we live in a democracy and the police have a duty to uphold the law.

If you have a problem with that you need to write to your MP and start a campaign.

I don't think you'd get very far though.

You may have noticed that the moderators here will remove personally offensive posts. That's because it isn't acceptable.

[escapeUK]

Sure is

Outraging public decency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Im outraged by this and want you arrested.

[d000hg]

I don't think you'd find that this would have been acceptable 20 years ago, or 30 years ago.

It wouldn't even have been news that he got arrested for it.

[doodab]

Sure is

Outraging public decency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distu...e#mw-mf-search

[escapeUK]

Actually it was "outraged" members of the public who called the police, so since this is an offence the police had an obligation to arrest him.

Are you saying that outraging a member of the public is an offence that someone should be arrested for?