Overzealous prosecution or not, the idea that this kind of crime could face two years in jail (juvenile or otherwise) is absolutely ridiculous. Two years?! Seriously, how traumatized can anyone be by the defacing of anything that such a harsh penalty is necessary?
Back in my neighborhood in the Bronx almost every year Baby Jesus got kidnapped for a few days from the nativity scene outside the church. I suppose these days that would get you life.:eek:
How is this not a civil liberties issue? I could see there maybe an issue with trespassing if there was a sign indicating the statue shouldn’t be touched. But taking disrespectful photos of statues? The ACLU should jump to this guy’s defense.
Unfortunately, there’s not a law on the books against being an asshole, so I’ve got no problem with this.
More like entrapment.
I don’t agree the statute needs a sign indicating the owner’s lack of consent for this particular trespass.
The issue is not the photo – the photo is merely evidence of the violation of the statue, and thus the statute. (These things just write themselves).
But I think the statute is too vague to be enforceable.
For one thing, this conduct would be absolutely protected if a person did such a thing to their own statue, but the law makes no distinction between owners of the object – as long as its venerated, the law appears to reach it. That’s overbroad, and overbreadth challenges in the First Amendment context can’t be saved by a court construing the statute to reach only cases of trespass, because the law chills permissible protected conduct.
Klassy kid. I hope the photo finds it’s way on every prospective employer’s desk. What a dumbass.
Yeah, really. The only reason *this *perp may have to just (can’t resist…) suck it up and take the punishment is that it’s unlikely anyone will bother mounting a challenge to the law over this sort of asshattery. But this is something we were supposed to have gotten over in our “more advanced” society, so we’d be able to wag our fingers at people angered by caricatures or videos and at countries with “blasphemy” laws. This dude *harmed *no one.
Thing is, the criminal penalty is entirely unnecessary, because of the following:
Indeed the behavior is self-punishing, these days. No need to burden the criminal justice system. There is no law against being an ign’rnt ass, but neither is there a law ordering social toleration thereof and the Web shall take care of letting the world see him at his asshatmost.
There should be a Statue of Limitations posted so teenagers know what they can and cannot do.
Point of law: statuary rape does not require lack of cement as sculptuary evidence.
The moral of the story is to cover the Jesus statue with the US flag first.
How old is the statue? How old is the teenager? Is a statue competent to give consent?
What do the Pennsylvania statutes say about statues? Are they set in stone?
Oh what a tangled web we create, when first we practice to desecrate!
You really think that would prevent him from getting hired?
If he applies at God Botherers Inc. then yes.
If true, then all the radio stations in Pennsylvania that run “Polka Party” on Sundays are breaking the law.
No lawyer is going to be able to get that kid off.
I wouldn’t hire him. He is stupid to take the picture. More stupid to post the picture. And I have no respect for those who go out of their way to be assholes.
I understand that SDMB is the bastion of liberal thought and atheism, but I don’t go around showing disrespect to those I disagree with.
No, no, no. From looking at the picture, I suspect the statue got him off…& lawyers are good for screwing you.
Now I’ll just stand here & wait for the express elevator down; way, waaaayyy, down
Personally, I have a hard time with the notion that desecration has any place in the vocabulary of American jurisprudence. Similar to the notion that “blasphemy” has any meaning in American law, it carries the implication that the government has a legitimate role in the enforcement of what anyone deems as “sacred.”
The law covers non-religious veneration: monuments, burial grounds, etc. I think it’s legit in that way.