Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 13:19:20 -0400 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: Wisconsin's High Court Rules on Speech Rights of Schoolchildren To: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor)
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/may01/threat-web051601.asp
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
High court rules on speech rights of schoolchildren
By DENNIS CHAPTMAN of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: May 16, 2001
Madison - The speech limits of schoolchildren were laid out by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a pair of decisions Wednesday - one that gave free speech protection to an inflammatory English essay and another that said "trash talking" threats deserved no protection.
Supreme Court * Ruling: State v. Douglas D. * Ruling: State v. A.S.
In the process, the state's highest court ruled - for the first time - that speech, even if does not cause an actual disturbance, can be prosecuted under Wisconsin's disorderly conduct law.
In a 6-1 decision, the high court said a 13-year-oldOconto County boy's violent essay about a student using a machete to behead his teacher was protected by the First Amendment and overturned his disorderly conduct conviction.
"A 13-year-old boy's impetuous writings do not necessarily fall from First Amendment protection due to their offensive nature," Justice Jon Wilcox wrote in the majority opinion.
Although the court found the boy's story "crude and repugnant," it said the essay did not rise to the level of a "true threat" needed to support a disorderly conduct conviction. But the court stressed throughout its decision that schools should not see the ruling as undercutting their authority to discipline students for such writings.
"Although the story is not a true threat, it is an offensive, crass insult to (the teacher)," Wilcox wrote. "Schools need not tolerate this type of assault to the sensibilities of their educators or students."
Joe Ehmann, first assistant state public defender, whose office represented the boy, said the decision rectified an overreaction to the essay.
"This is hopefully a step back from this state's penchant for punishing childhood," Ehmann said.
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