<p>Um… NO. That is only of the offense is to be considered a CRIMINAL offense. It could be a civil offense or perhaps a misdemeanor, and rules involving minors may also be different.
<a href=“http://cyb3rcrim3.blogspot.com/2008/06/harassing-or-threatening-text-messages.html[/url]”>http://cyb3rcrim3.blogspot.com/2008/06/harassing-or-threatening-text-messages.html</a></p>
<p>You keep making it too easy to prove my point jym626. </p>
<p>This is from the link you just provided.</p>
<p>“(2) To call another person with intent to threaten to inflict physical harm or injury to any person or property”</p>
<p>The main two words there are WITH INTENT. Doesn’t seem like the boy had intent.</p>
<p>Thats exactly what you do-- parse links to lose the meaning of it. You have no idea what the intent of the sender was, and its irrelevant, given the other variables mentioned, as rules may differ for a minor. You don’t know what his intent was and she doesn’t know what his intent was. But to text someone, especially a minor, that you are going to rape them is (a) really stupid and (b) threatening and pretty sick. By the way, did you ever pass that accounting class? Just wondered…</p>
<p>Did you notice that this thread was about the mother of the girl who received this message asking what she ought to do? Did you notice that some people told her that they would immediately call the police? If she had taken that advice, the boy who sent this message would have, at the very least, had some uncomfortable experiences as he had to explain that it was just a “joke,” as he prayed that the girl also felt that it was a joke.</p>
<p>And no matter how much you think you only send “jokes” to people you know inside and out, if you use electronic forms of communication to send the jokes, it’s not unusual for those to be seen by other people–especially if you are a high school student.</p>
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<p>That is the thing. You have to prove intent. She said it was a bad joke. A JOKE. Again, case closed.</p>
<p>What accounting class??</p>
<p>The point is that the boy doesn’t need an uncomfortable experience because he didn’t do anything criminal or even civilly actionable.</p>
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<p>It’s not unusual for those to mean seen by other people?? Who? </p>
<p>If parents can’t trust their kids, then they shouldn’t give them a phone in the first place.</p>
<p>Exactly, Hunt. What fool texts to a 15ish year old girl that he will “rape her and she will like it”. There is nothing “funny” in those words, and whether he “intended” for it to be a threat, it sure sounds like a threat, and the job of the parents and of law enforcement if necessary, is to protect the girl.</p>
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<p>Agree with this.</p>
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<p>The law has to prove that there is intent. It can’t just SOUND like a threat.</p>
<p>No kidding, Clarence. Depends on the rules in their state. And the parents own the phone so the parents could initiate action if they chose. If it were me, I’d be contacting that boys parents PDQ and that kid would have a LOT of explaining to do. And that boy should have his phone taken away. Telling a girl you are going to rape her is NOT FUNNY in ANY way, shape or form. The police could press charges and then the kid would have to prove he wasnt INTENDING to harass, annoy, threaten, or whatever other language is in their state’s statute. </p>
<p>Don’t you have some autographs to collect or something?</p>
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<p>For the police to even take the kid into custody, they have to prove intent.</p>
<p>What’s with the left field questions? Still didn’t answer the other oddball question.</p>
<p>What are you talking about, clarence? The police would investigate and decide whether or not to proceed. And “proof” of “intent” doesn’t happen at that point. That happens after a person is charged. But if the police showed up at this kid’s house and had a little chat with him and his folks, thats a good start.</p>
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He did something which was at the least moronically stupid and which got the girl’s mom wondering what she should do. What he did was not OK. It is not OK to send a girl a text or other electronic message that threatens to rape her. It is, at least, a totally boneheaded thing to do for just the reason some of us are trying to convey–if it inconveniently is seen by somebody who is not in on the “joke,” it can have dire ramifications for the sender.</p>
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<p>How many times do I have to state this? It is not a threat if it was a joke. If they both know that rape is wrong and they both know that it was a joke, then there is nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>Well, don’t call me for bail money.</p>
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<p>Have you heard of reason suspicion and probable cause?</p>
<p>I am sorry that you are an old geezer and probably in a mid-life crisis right now, but please don’t take it on me with your oddball questions and your sarcastic comments.</p>
<p>I really hope you arent this linear of a thinker. There is NOTHING FUNNY about telling a 15 year old girl you are going to rape her and she is going to like it. It is QUITE POSSIBLE that she is minimizing it to her parents because she doesnt want to have to deal with any ramifications in school. Peer pressure is awful at that age, and kids will often try to minimize something or talk parents out of pursuing something that is the PARENTS decision to address or not. Doesnt matter if you think what the kid meant. Just because you announce that it was a joke doesnt make it so. Sorry Clarence. Enough of this nonsense.</p>
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<p>Like I stated before, I only joke with people who know me very well and who I know very well. I joke constantly with my good friends all the time. And yes, the jokes go too far most of the time, but we don’t take ourselves seriously when we joke.</p>
<p>I don’t joke with people I don’t know well because I don’t know how they would perceive a joke.</p>
<p>Laughter is good. Maybe you should try it sometime.</p>
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<p>If I’m 15 and I texted my good friend in a kidding way that I was going to kill him for losing my video game, should action be taken? Of course not.</p>
<p>Now if I got a text from somebody I didn’t know that said “I am going to kill you”, then of course action should be taken.</p>