Dealing with Racism - Hate Crime... :(

[Boba7523]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

Hi guys... So basically, someone started an argument with me on Youtube (I had no intention of starting one - have evidence) and began calling me racial slurs and stating comments like my ethnicity is his ethnicity's top 3 enemies and threatens me that "I" will pay for whatever damage my ethnicity did to him... This has put me in fear even though I don't even know this person at all, but I do live in a community that is populated with his ethnicity...

Can I file a complaint with the FBI for hate crime on the internet since I researched and FBI stated that hate crime is "a criminal offense committed against a person, property or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin."

Or if I can sue him for hate crime?

 

[tranquility]

Carl may be able to answer better, but that does not seem to rise to the level of a terroristic threat. What other crime are you talking about?

 

[CdwJava]

This will not rise to the level of a crime in CA. To be a criminal threat it would require "an unconditional threat of death or great bodily injury." (Bolin (1998) 18 Cal.4th 297, 338.)

Courts have noted that section 422 (criminal threats) "was not enacted to punish an angry adolescent's utterances, unless they otherwise qualify as terrorist threats under that statute." So, the rantings of someone on YouTube is not likely to qualify as a crime here.

A hate crime likewise require that there be an underlying crime, not merely an expression of hatred for a person or a group. People have a First Amendment right to be an ass.

You can call the FBI if you like, but they are not going to take any serious action unless there is a lot you have failed to reveal here.

Best way to deal with idiots is to ignore them and let them reveal to the world what they are about. You can also complain to YouTube and see if the rant somehow violates their policies and they choose to remove it.

 

[Boba7523]

Thanks so much guys and no I have revealed everything here - no hidden agendas. So say if someone verbally threatens to hurt me either in person or on the internet, it is not a crime unless they actually cause physical harm?

I think from what I heard about assault and battery, it goes something like assault is when you speak of the intention to cause harm, and battery is when you actually physically hurt them... Am i right?

 

[Antigone*]

Thanks so much guys and no I have revealed everything here - no hidden agendas. So say if someone verbally threatens to hurt me either in person or on the internet, it is not a crime unless they actually cause physical harm?

I think from what I heard about assault and battery, it goes something like assault is when you speak of the intention to cause harm, and battery is when you actually physically hurt them... Am i right?

Why don't you just delete and block his postings from your videos?

 

[tranquility]

In person is not the same as on the internet. If the person puts you in present danger of an imminent harmful or offensive touching that is assault. While the police may not charge or arrest for that (depending on the circumstances) that would meet the elements of the crime (and tort). Over the internet, you cannot be in "present danger of an imminent", that's why I brought up the possibility of terroristic threats-even though I didn't really think it rose to that level.

 

[CdwJava]

Thanks so much guys and no I have revealed everything here - no hidden agendas. So say if someone verbally threatens to hurt me either in person or on the internet, it is not a crime unless they actually cause physical harm?

Of course not. But, for it to be the crime of criminal threats (a felony) the threat must not only be believed, there must be a likelihood that it can be carried out imminently. A threat on the internet that cannot be inferred as to place you in imminent fear of harm cannot rise to that level. It might be a violation of PC 653m (a misdemeanor for electronic communication), but even that would be a stretch in this instance. And the police would not likely dig too deep into it.

I think from what I heard about assault and battery, it goes something like assault is when you speak of the intention to cause harm, and battery is when you actually physically hurt them... Am i right?

In CA assault (PC 240) is when you try to harm someone and fail, battery (PC 242) is when you actually strike them. So, if I swing at you I have committed assault. If I strike you I have committed battery.