A Dangerous Mind - Are thoughts criminal?

[Tiger Wench]

This is a long article, but very interesting.  The TL;DR version is that a NY cop joined an online group called Dark Fetishes and talked in graphic detail about how he wanted to kidnap, strangle, rape and eat women he knew. His wife found the postings on their home computer and called the FBI - he was arrested and found guilty.

But read this thing - he claims it was all just fantasy - an outlet - that he would NEVER have done any of those things.  He was only charged with conspiracy, because he and another guy on the board were talking about kidnapping a particular woman - but the jury could not see past his thoughts.

The discussion is:  back in the day, people could sit around and think the most horrific things they wanted and no one knew they were thinking those things until they put them into action and a crime had been committed.  But in this day and age of oversharing on the innerwebs, when is "written thought" actionable?  People on this board say and do things they would NEVER say or do in real life, for one reason or another, but where do you draw the line between reality and fantasy?

Just read it - very Orwellian.

http://nymag.com/news/features/cannibal-cop-2014-1/

[Godfather]

The TL;DR version is that a NY cop joined an online group called Dark Fetishes and talke din graphic detail about how he wanted to kidnap, strangle, rape and eat women he knew.

Wait it isn't normal to think that way.  Oh fuck!

Also is that the order he wanted to do it in? Seems he also had a penchant for necrophilia.

[Godfather]

To answer the original question, seems like he needs a mental hospital more than a jail cell, those are some pretty fucked up thoughts.

[Vandy Vol]

Legally speaking, the crime of conspiracy that he was charged with isn't anything new, nor is the manner in which he was convicted for it.  If two or more people sat around talking about how they wanted to kidnap X person back in 1978, that could be enough to establish an agreement to commit a crime.  In some jurisdictions, that alone is enough for a conspiracy conviction, although many jurisdictions also require that one of the conspirators make an "overt act" that is a step toward execution of the crime (such as Googling "how to kidnap a woman" or e-mailing details about how the kidnapping would take place, like this guy did).

You can think about anything horrific that you want to, and thinking it alone is not a crime.  But if you speak about it with other people, and you speak about it in a way that can be deemed as an agreement to perpetrate a criminal act, then it becomes a conspiracy, which has been around in common law for centuries.

[Snaggletiger]

To answer the original question, seems like he needs a mental hospital more than a jail cell, those are some pretty fucked up thoughts.

This right here^^^.  Get his ass off the computer and off the streets before he and the other dude carry it out. 

[Saniflush]

IT RUBS THE LOTION ON IT"S SKIN OR IT GETS THE HOSE.

[Godfather]

IT RUBS THE LOTION ON IT"S SKIN OR IT GETS THE HOSE.

Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me. I'd fuck me so hard.

[WiregrassTiger]

Legally speaking, the crime of conspiracy that he was charged with isn't anything new, nor is the manner in which he was convicted for it.  If two or more people sat around talking about how they wanted to kidnap X person back in 1978, that could be enough to establish an agreement to commit a crime.  In some jurisdictions, that alone is enough for a conspiracy conviction, although many jurisdictions also require that one of the conspirators make an "overt act" that is a step toward execution of the crime (such as Googling "how to kidnap a woman" or e-mailing details about how the kidnapping would take place, like this guy did).

You can think about anything horrific that you want to, and thinking it alone is not a crime.  But if you speak about it with other people, and you speak about it in a way that can be deemed as an agreement to perpetrate a criminal act, then it becomes a conspiracy, which has been around in common law for centuries.

I am sure this is good advice but I find it really difficult to keep my mouth shut when I'm planning to eat a woman.

[Buzz Killington]

I can think of a few women I would love to eat.  Oh wait...

[AWK]

I am sure this is good advice but I find it really difficult to keep my mouth shut when I'm planning to eat a woman.

They are all red on the inside...wait...

[Kaos]

I can think of a few women I would love to eat.  Oh wait...

I think we've already heard enough from somebody else about that particular activity.  In detail.