People vs. Marquan case held at the New York Court of Appeal was the first that considered the option of criminalizing cyberbullying constitutionally in the United States. The court annulled the Albany County law established in 2010 claiming that the law restrictions were overly broad and vague which violated the clause on Free Speech contained in the First Amendment (Philips, 2014). The Albany County law defined cyberbullying as any communication act through the internet used to embarrass, humiliate or intimidate an individual causing them emotional unrest. Marquan at 16 years was charged with cyberbullying after a post he made on Facebook of his classmate's photos and his sexual practices and private information. The charges were based on the Albany County law a month after it was made effective (Sumrall, 2015). Although Marquan filed a dismissal motion on the argument that the law violated the first amendments they were dismissed. He claimed that the statute was overbroad because it interdicted protected expression and also too vague as it did not grant fair notice to the public.
Arguments were raised on appeal where the court agreed with the claim of Marquan on the vagueness and overbroadness of the law. The court based its rationalization on the breath of the doctrines in that they had an alarming breadth in criminalizing communication spectrum that has a broad perspective (MacKay, 2015). The concluding statement was that the law that criminalizes cyberbullying requires extensive revision by the judicial since it cannot cure all the ills the doctrine states to the letter without compromising other laws. The law on cyberbullying covers a wide range that contradicts the first amendment aw and being too tough on those who violate the rule while it has not been allocated the time of spread and understanding to the citizens.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
References
MacKay, A. W. (2015). Law as an ally or enemy in the war on cyberbullying: Exploring the contested terrain of privacy and other legal concepts in the age of technology and social media. UNBLJ , 66 , 3.
Phillips, H. E. (2014). Online Bullying and the First Amendment: State Cyberbullying Statutes after People v. Marquan M. NCL Rev. Addendum , 93 , 179.
Sumrall, T. (2015). Lethal words: The harmful impact of cyberbullying and the need for federal criminalization. Hous. L. Rev. , 53 , 1475.
