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Original poster

To think it's ridiculous this idiot got a jail sentence ?

103 replies

chattycaterpillar · 30/03/2022 20:58

I'm going to start the post with a disclaimer that the man is obviously very unpleasant and a racist, nasty piece of work. Last July, he sent Marcus Rashford a single tweet calling him a F* N word following penalty fails. Obviously extremely nasty, and I have no problem with him being charged by the police.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10668157/Teenager-jailed-six-weeks-racially-abusing-Marcus-Rashford-Italy-penalty-miss.html

However, I'm genuinely concerned that insulting people online appears to warrant jail time, when the following crimes appear not to. I'd also add that part of my misgivings about actual jail time are this was a single, ( although thoroughly unpleasant tweet), is that it was one tweet, but not a sustained period of harassment.

Am I right in not understanding how sending one abusive message got jail time, but the following didn't:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-60480256

www.sunderlandecho.com/news/crime/sunderland-dad-caught-with-troubling-collection-of-child-abuse-images-3630498

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/gran-who-eight-out-10-23178021

www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/crime/kettering-man-spared-from-prison-over-sex-assault-3545684

OP posts:
Thelnebriati · 31/03/2022 12:02

LegMeChicken
gender is a protected characteristic by law.

'Sex' is the protected characteristic named in the Equality Act. Getoff was talking about hate crime legislation, which does not protect women. Misogyny is not a hate crime.

Theunamedcat · 31/03/2022 12:16

I'm sure death threats are against the law no matter what sex you are

Thelnebriati · 31/03/2022 12:19

And yet women have trouble getting death and rape threats investigated.

Porcupineintherough · 31/03/2022 13:38

@Blossomtoes your concern is touching but chances are he'll be fine. Lots of ex cons go on to lead full and satisfying lives even if they are no longer able to holiday in Florida. Him being convicted for a hate crime may prove more of a challenge to gainful employment but lots of other racists manage it - and if he can find a racist employer then, who knows, it might even be a bonus.

Blossomtoes · 31/03/2022 13:43

[quote Porcupineintherough]@Blossomtoes your concern is touching but chances are he'll be fine. Lots of ex cons go on to lead full and satisfying lives even if they are no longer able to holiday in Florida. Him being convicted for a hate crime may prove more of a challenge to gainful employment but lots of other racists manage it - and if he can find a racist employer then, who knows, it might even be a bonus.[/quote]
I know someone who got a custodial sentence as a young man. It was the same deal - use him as an example - and it was for something far less potentially damaging than this. He hasn’t “been fine”, his life chances have been severely limited.

Abhorrent as I find his behaviour, the punishment should fit the crime, not blight his life.

Porcupineintherough · 31/03/2022 13:45

I guess then it depends on how you view his crime. I think it fits perfectly.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 31/03/2022 13:45

I've been getting abused online, with evidence and stalked (low level but still stalking). The police will do nothing about it as the person is "venting" online and following me isn't a crime.

It astounds me he has received a prison sentence. He did deserve punishment but where is the consistency?

girlmom21 · 31/03/2022 15:07

@HunterHearstHelmsley

I've been getting abused online, with evidence and stalked (low level but still stalking). The police will do nothing about it as the person is "venting" online and following me isn't a crime.

It astounds me he has received a prison sentence. He did deserve punishment but where is the consistency?

Can't you block them or make your account private?
Theunamedcat · 31/03/2022 16:26

It's always the same story isn't it 🙄

He is stalking me YOU need to move YOU need to change your number YOU need to lock down your social media etc etc etc

Why doesn't HE need to change

girlmom21 · 31/03/2022 16:36

@Theunamedcat

It's always the same story isn't it 🙄

He is stalking me YOU need to move YOU need to change your number YOU need to lock down your social media etc etc etc

Why doesn't HE need to change

Well if you allow someone to follow you on social media you're not protecting yourself, are you?

From a normal person's perspective then, yeah, he shouldn't be weird.

But the police can't charge someone for stalking if they're just following you on social media

Porcupineintherough · 31/03/2022 19:34

Putting some privacy setting on your social media is hardly the same as having to move.

1Micem0use · 31/03/2022 19:50

I think its fantastic he got jail time for his hate crime. It will deter others from doing the same thing.

LuaDipa · 31/03/2022 19:52

The sentence is appropriate and I hope we continue to see this sort of online abuse taken so seriously.

The issue is that this response is not consistent (which it categorically should be) and the cases raised should also have warranted a custodial sentence.

NippyWoowoo · 31/03/2022 20:20

@Morfil

To be honest OP, there are probably hundreds or thousands of instances of people being given custodial sentences for things that many might perceive as more serious than the stories you link in your OP.

It’s weird…and perhaps telling…that this is the case/sentencing that you’ve singled out.

bingo
NippyWoowoo · 31/03/2022 20:29

Not as much harm as pedophiles that get suspended sentences.

Are you really implying that a few words on the Internet, one tweet, can really harm someone so much that it warrants prison time?

Get over yourself.

Love to see the glossing over of racism on MN. He may have only made one racist comment, but black footballers receive racist abuse all the time. This one just got jail time.

And I'm also noting the wording of a lot of the replies on this thread. The abuse to JK is 'mysoginistic', but the abuse to Rashford is 'just a tweet'. It's a racist tweet, why so hard to say?

Blossomtoes · 31/03/2022 20:57

It’s not just a tweet. It was appalling racism but anyone who thinks this guy will emerge from prison less racist is deluded.

Morfil · 31/03/2022 20:59

He’s being made an example of
I don’t see that he is, the sentence is in keeping with previous ones for similar offences.

Morfil · 31/03/2022 21:09

Not ‘minority’, but gender is a protected characteristic by law.
But not under hate crime legislation. Misogyny is not a hate crime in the UK (the government blocked legislation that would have made it so, earlier this year).

Death threats and other threats of violence are a different matter, though.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 31/03/2022 21:12

@girlmom21

Can't you block them or make your account private?

Apologies, I meant physically following. Reading it back, it does read as though I'm referring to following on social media.

Kendodd · 31/03/2022 21:31

Prison for one tweet (if that's all it was) is madness, regardless of what was said. This isn't to say it should go unpunished though.

Who should also be appearing in the dock are Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, or at least their UK directors, for not making it more difficult and failing to act on such abuse. Prevention is far better.
Agreed.
As far as I know Diane Abbott gets the worse abuse of the lot, I wonder if any of her abusers have been prosecuted for a single tweet.

Blossomtoes · 31/03/2022 21:35

I very much doubt it - older women are just supposed to suck it up.

Theunamedcat · 31/03/2022 21:46

It's not even prison sentence I object to I find that proportional to the crime its the way its been done? Women of all colours races and stages in their lives are subjected to online abuse and often the police say things like "its a civil matter" "stop posting controversial perfectly legal opinions" "its because of your job" and my favorite "we can't do anything unless they physically touch you" this young man has been subjected to online abuse and one racist tweet by one idiot gets a sentence I do not believe for one moment this is wrong I DO think the way others have been dealt with is wrong we should have equality in the law

Theunamedcat · 31/03/2022 21:50

If they locked down twitter no account without id turn you over to the police for threats even banning repeat offenders would help but they don't fines would help too can you imagine the money they would make if they fined people for this?

SommerTen · 31/03/2022 22:02

I'm glad he's been jailed.

Maybe the other nasty racist keyboard warriors will start to think twice now..

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