4 ms·

How is not being allowed to induce a mentally ill person to kill himself any more of an infringement of free speech than fraud or libel or perjury or conspiracy

• marchenko 9y ago
  She did not deceive him or collude with others to exert undue leverage over him. She made it clear that the intended result of the actions she advocated was death. She does not appear to have introduced the idea of suicide in the first place. She had no legal, physical, or economic control over him, was not in proximity to him during the suicide, and does not appear to have involved third parties at any time. He carried out an act that was legal for him to perform in large part because of her persuasive speech. Her words were chilling, but his act was the result of speech between two peers, and was not itself illegal.
  • jjeaff 9y ago
    Right or not, all speech is not protected. If you spill government secrets, you can be thrown in jail (assuming you aren't politically powerful). If you threaten someone, you could be prosecuted. Yelling fire in a crowded theater... Some of these are grey areas. I would say in this case, helping to convince someone who is obviously mentally ill that they should kill themself was decided to be one of those types of speech that is not protected.